Jester 2 0: Comedy Overwrite
by Jokerlady
Summary: After the events of Path of the Jester, Joker is in prison and Gotham is at peace...until now. Why are people starting to die in very funny ways...all over again, while the main suspect is locked up? Nobody can keep a good clown down for long, right?
1. Introduction to Chaos

_**Author's note: **Dear friends. This is the promised sequel to **Path of the Jester**, taking off where **Jester** left off, but if you want to start reading this story, feel free, since you really don't need to have a knowledge of Jester's story line to enjoy it. I will supply any facts that might need referencing, but for the most part, this is a whole new story, from scratch, and hot from the oven. In contrast with **Jester****,** which I know was slow and sometimes dragged (it was my first story ever), I promise you an action packed thrilling adventure. Some of the things that happened in the first story will make sense now. Hope you like this little new adventure._

_Feel free to let me know your thoughts on this story. I welcome all good intentioned reviews with your thoughts and ideas. For now, please enjoy the chapter.._

_DISCLAIMER 1: Batman, and all releated characters belong solely to DC COMICS. Unfortunately, I don't make any money writing this story._

_DISCLAIMER 2: Sometimes I will will use MATURE LANGUAGE and SITUATIONS and some SEXUAL innuendos might be found throughout. If you dont like VIOLENCE, FOWL LANGUAGE and SEXUAL INNUENDO, be advised....you might find it often here. _

_BETA: I would really like to thank the wonderful KICHI for her help. I couldn's ask for a better Beta,, since her own writing is so strong and energetic, and she is very insightful. If you want a taste of her magnificent talent, check out her stories founded in the Nolanverse Joker: **Mask, Dies Irae Day of Wrath**, and my personal favorite, **Vitiate.**_

**_Chapter 1: Introduction to Chaos_**

Garrison opened the bottle of Jack Daniels and poured some of the liquor into two freshly cleaned glasses as he looked subtly at the image of his guest reflected in the window glass. The man, blonde and probably in his late thirties, rested comfortably in a chair in front of Garrison's desk with his elbows set loosely over the armrests and his hands interlaced over his lap. The man looked calmed as he looked over to the crime boss at the small bar, and then sighed with some disdain. Garrison added some soda to the glass and once he finished mixing in some ice, he took the drinks back to his desk where his dark suited guest awaited looking out the office window.

"So you say that Mr. Dokeshi is pleased with the delivery, Mr. …"

"You can call me Mr. M, just like the first letter in MYSTERY and yes, that vas precisely vat Mr. Dokeshi needed," the man answered in a thick German accent. He removed the sunglasses from atop of his head and set them gently on the Mafioso's desk as he accepted the drink with a polite nod. "You are indeed a resourceful man, Mr. Garrison. Can I call you Harry?"

Garrison nodded. "It is my business to stay well connected, Mr. M. Nothing is out of my reach in my city especially for the right price," the Mafiosi said as he put strong emphasis on the last sentence. After all, it was well known that Boss Garrison was the most powerful man in Gotham after Thermoupoulos' early demise. He lifted his glass and took a swig, licked his lips and then set the glass gently on the corner of his desk. "And what does your boss need this time, 'cause this is more than a casual visit, isn't it? And this thing of keeping our names to a simple initial…I'm sure is not just a German fad, am I correct?"

M. smiled. Garrison couldn't be easily fooled. "The least you know the least you need to answer to the police in case you end up in one of their interrogation rooms. Just for your protection, really, and you're right Harry, Dokeshi needs your help to tie up some loose ends, and he's confident you can help him vith 'dat."

"I knew it." Garrison smiled as he leaned back into his leather executive chair. "Who does Mr. Dokeshi wants iced? Unless I'm reading you wrong… "

M. looked at the glass of Jack Daniels in his hand and set it untouched beside him smiling wide. "Someone very important, 'cause it vill serve as important piece of 'dis puzzle Mr. Dokeshi vants to leave for the Crusader."

Garrison fidgeted on his chair at the mention of the Detective's name. "Your boss should be very careful with that rat, Mr. M. That vermin bites back."

"Oh, he knows, he knows. The Batman is a beast that my boss finds very interesting and unique. More of a playmate vith vooom to have fun if you vill, and he vill have fun with the rodent."

"Look, I don't mind associating with someone as powerful as Mr. Dokeshi for a mutually profitable alliance, but I'm not going to risk going head to head with the Batman. I did it twice, and ended up with over a dozen men in the hospital. The least the rodent knows about me…and us, the better for this business."

The German let a soft cackle as he combed his blonde curly hair with a hand. "My dear Harry. This is not longer just 'bout you. Mr. Dokeshi vants to play vith 'dis city and his mascot."

"Then I will have to say that I can't be part of that. The whole idea is just insane. Does he know that dealing with the Batman is like playing with fire? The Bat is not forgiving." Garrison explained as he wiped the sweat on his upper lip.

"Boss Dokeshi vas right, your balls dropped off," Drago said with an evil smile across his face. "You're afraid of a mouse."

Garrison thrust forward angrily. "I beg your pardon?"

"Only ladies are afraid of mice. Vee need people vith courage and determination in our little club, Mr. Garrison because great changes are coming to 'dis city. Unfortunately, your name is no longer part of our lists."

"You come to my very office just to spit on my face, Mr. M? I don't take that kindly." Harry snarled when a shootout was heard outside Garrison's office along with screams and expletives. "And I'm no coward…what the hell is that?"

"Nothing you should be concerned about, Harry, and I'm not calling you coward, I'm calling you bait," Drago responded throwing a playing card at the Mafioso's desk. A Joker card. Three more cards followed, this time embedding themselves deep into Garrison's torso. Harry started at that very same moment to giggle uncontrollably as his white shirt quickly drenched in the blood seeping from the wounds. As Garrison's giggles escalated to a hysterical laughter, he stopped breathing and slumped over his desk, with his blank eyes open wide and his mouth stretched in a broad grin. The door behind M. opened and a man carrying an automatic peeked through.

"You're done there? Have to go before the pigs arrive."

"Yes, I'm done," the German responded rising from the chair and leaning over Garrison's body to confirm he was dead. He then headed towards the door fixing his jacket and tie as if getting ready for a date. "Vee are so happy, you see the funny side of 'dis new plan, Harry. Thanks for all your help. Goodbye."

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

The hall was long and dim, and despite its green makeup, the true spirit of the building peeked through the cracked paint and crumbly cement covering ready to engulf you. Insanity seemed hidden within the old walls like a lurking monster. The remodeled building was all a façade; a nicely painted corridor just to hide the evil that hid behind it. Tunnel to the Bowels of Hell. That was what it looked like to him as he got deeper into the bowels of this monster to find his target.

Hampton have not seen security this tight since he had worked in area 51 ten years ago and he couldn't believe that an institution like this will have so many circles of security to reach access to one of his inmates. Their most dangerous resident. The Clown Prince of Crime. He remembered when Joker asked for ransom as he was ready to blow half the planet in a radioactive mushroom cloud, just to rejoice in the mass destruction and chaos he had provoked. Hampton wondered if he would ever get the madman to speak to him.

The guard at the fifth security station ran a metal detector all over him while a second guard sat on a chair by the security post checking his pass against what seemed a computer file on a monitor in front of him. The man in the chair eyed him suspiciously making Hampton very uncomfortable.

"Name." The man said dryly, rising from the chair and walking up to him.

"Mathew Hampton. I thought I had given you--."

"We know who you are, Mr. Hampton. Sorry, but that's the protocol."

"Unbelievable… I'm cleared to access the Pentagon and the White House and I'm waiting for clearance to see a simple lunatic."

"Not your usual lunatic, Mr. Hampton." The guard looked over the computer and eyed the government officer again. "Why would you like to talk to him, anyways? Nobody ever wants to talk to him, not even the Batman."

Hampton sneered at the curious officer when the computer blipped twice and the officer looked over the small printer by the monitor were a silver sticker was being printed. He removed the sticker from the printer and offered it to Hampton.

"Here you have it, sir. Your clearance. Secure it to the back of the pass and present it when requested, understood?" Hampton snorted obviously annoyed. "Now some basic rules. One. Never, approach the acrylic door or the inmate. Two…"

"I know how to deal with psychos so spare me the lecture," Hampton said starting to walk into the maximum security ward when the guard stopped him and pushed him back.

"Two. On the right hand side of the door and embedded on the wall is a small slot for any papers that need to be exchanged. There is an X-ray unit there so just slide the printed material slowly. If it detects staples, paperclips, or any other type of unusual material it will not let it go through and it will alert us, automatically finishing your interview time, so be careful with what you put in there."

"Got it, got it…" Hampton rambled. "Can we go in now?"

"They granted you forty-five minutes so make the best of it if you can make him talk coherently for that long. He's been unusually out of synch with reality lately." Hampton knitted his brow and nodded silently. "Follow me."

The doors opened and the guard led Hampton down another smaller corridor that somewhat darker than the one with the security post and was flanked with cells on both sides. He could feel the hair rising on the back of his head as they stopped on the last cell to the left. Inside, a man restrained in a straitjacket sat in a corner with his back to the acrylic glass door. He wouldn't recognize the man if it wasn't for the mane of wild green hair on his head. There was a small camera on the outside the door, looking into the cell and focused on that particular corner. "You have a visitor, Joker."

The man in the corner did not respond, but seemed to mumble something to himself before he started to giggle nervously in his corner. Where was the dangerous psychopath everybody was supposed to be afraid of? This had to be a joke. This was not even the shadow of the criminal mastermind he had spoken to on the phone last year. This man was not going to be able to help him or anybody else for that matter. He was just too far gone into his own world. Hampton came one step closer to the acrylic door and cleared his throat.

"Mr. Joker, remember me? I'm Mathew Hampton." The government official said gingerly. No answer; only the incessant mumbling. Who was he talking to? There was no one else in that cell. "Mr. Joker I'd like to talk to you, ask you a few questions…"

Nothing. Hampton didn't know what else to do to get the man's attention and in his frustration he stared at the officers in the security station. They just stared back and Hampton felt his stomach tighten. He was not going to just give up now. Mathew just faked a smile and tapped on the acrylic door.

"Why do they make these things so tight?" The Joker finally said, not directed at anybody in particular. "I can hardly breathe." The Jester giggled. "Maybe I should make them stop breathing so they know what it feels like…"

"Mr. Joker if you please…"

"What are they going to do if I itch…call the Clown Brigade? HA!" Joker said releasing a grunt and bursting in laughter. "I need a masseur," the Clown said turning to face the government official at last. "Are you going to give me my massage…?"

Hampton was confused. "Massage…? No, I'm Mathew Hampton from Homeland Security and I came to…"

"If you're not here for my massage…then you're useless so drop dead in a corner or something. At least that will make me smile." Joker spat back angrily. "What I need is a massage, right here between my… This suit is too tight. See, even he agrees with me. I'm gonna kill that tailor. HEY, ROOM SERVICE…!" The Jester exploded in a hysterical laughter that made the hair in the back of Hampton's head rise on end.

"This is a waste of time…" Hampton said as he turned to leave the hall when, from the corner of his eye, he saw something coming at him very fast from within the cell, hit forcefully against the acrylic door and fall to the floor in front of him. Hampton backed off from the door until he hit the acrylic of the cell behind him. His heart pounded in his throat like a hammer as he looked at the floor where the straitjacket laid flat. He looked to the corner inside the cell where the Joker, sans his straitjacket was slowly rising from the floor, stretching his arms wide while laughing.

"That's much better, yes, yes, yessss! Like murder in the morning." The Joker said turning around and approaching the acrylic door with a limp. "A waste of time indeed. What you want? I hope is not negotiating because you suck in that department."

The security guard appeared by Hampton with his stun gun tightly in his hand and looked at the now free Joker who was staring at him with a wide smile. The Clown waved a white hand at the officer. "Hi ya, Rudy."

"Is he…is he… is he sup-p-pposed t-to be able to do that?" A surprised Hampton, still pressed against the acrylic door asked the security guard. No matter how hard he tried, Hampton couldn't hide the dread in his voice. Joker's smile widened.

"This is the third time this week, Joker. What part of don't remove the straitjacket you don't understand?"

"Did I break my previous record? The Jester said as he clasped his hand under his chin and started to laugh hysterically. "What did I win…your head on a pike?"

"You mean to tell me he has done this before?" Hampton said looking puzzled.

"Seventeen times and four straitjackets later this month." Joker said with a poised attitude, his eyes half open as he spoke matter-of-factly. "You see, strait jackets are designed to restrain dangerous, violent criminals and I'm neither so they don't stay on. I'm not a threat to anybody, I have just been mistaken for a Tiffany lamp. That's why they have me in permanent exhibition here at the psycho ward." The Clown laughed and faked scratching his lower back.

"That is not funny…" Rudy retorted.

"OK sourpuss…and I had this horrible itch right here." The Jester turned around and lowered his pants showing his naked white buttocks to the officer and the government official. "Itching so bad without being able to reach it and nobody listened to my pleas…what was I supposed to do, Rudy? Even this Tiffany needs to be dusted once in a while." Joker purred shaking his naked ass. "Wanna dust me now? Right between my--."

"Follow the rules, Clown," the security guard answered angrily putting his gun down. "This is not a hotel. Here you follow rules so put your pants back up."

Joker did as he was told and adjusted the pants around his waist. "Rudolph, so far I have been a good sport, but I am not putting that straitjacket back on. It is two sizes too small and not my color. Not fair…all I have done is bringing joy to this town and is this how they treat me? No wonder I have to do what I do…" Joker covered his face with his hands and started to sob.

Hampton could not believe this man and his mood swings. It was all like a well rehearsed performance and even the tears poured from the Jester's eyes on cue between his loud wails. Then Joker suddenly slammed both hands against the acrylic door and started to laugh maniacally. The officer aimed his gun at the laughing clown. "…and you know what I do, right Matt? I kill people usually in packs of ten or more…. The best medicine in a world that makes no sense at all." He giggled evilly.

"I'm not going to say this again, step back Joker…" Rudy warned the Clown, when he felt the Federal officer's hand on his shoulder. Hampton lifted a hand towards the security officer.

"Why would you want to kill me, Mr. Joker? I have not done anything to you."

"You stand," the Clown Prince said calmly and matter-of-factly. "And if you stand, you can fall dead on your back. Now that would make me laugh…funnier than the AIDS epidemic and I could use a laugh now."

Hampton remained as calm as he could, but he couldn't help to feel butterflies in his stomach. This clown was creepy, but he couldn't let him get scare him. "Have you seen where you are? You can't harm me or anybody else. You are done for as a criminal."

The Clown stopped laughing and glared resentfully at the government officer. "Have you read my resume, Matt? I'm not done until the last citizen of this city dies with a smile on his face. And you're here, so obviously your government is not forgetting me either. I'm a superstar…and superstars transcend even acrylic walls. I'll show you, come 'ere."

Hampton fixed his tie. "This visit is just procedural, Mr. Joker. The virus you inserted ran its course and was successfully removed from the network in case you didn't know. And we know it was all a simulation, a bad joke."

"Was the virus the only thing I left in the network? Hmm…maybe not. Maybe I decided on postponing Armageddon simulation until Mother's day. Now that would make a great mother's day gift for my mom, what about yours?" The Joker smiled widened again as he combed his green mane with his hands. The security guard looked at both men as if they were speaking another language, and Hampton didn't appreciated having an audience when discussing such delicate subject. "And you're still here trying to find out how I did it, aren't you? Because Uncle Sam is just so curious…"

"Can you leave us alone, officer?"

"This Clown needs to go back in his straitjacket…"

"Make me and I swear to you I'll make you eat that sweaty straitjacket…" Joker riposted with an evil glare. "No more Mr. Nice Clown."

"I think I can handle this pathetic clown without his straitjacket for a few minutes, officer," Hampton said noticing the resentful eyes of the Clown Prince of Crime frowning at him. "You can put it back on when I'm gone."

Rudy stared at the government officer and nodded. "Have it your way, Mr. Hampton, but your time now is only thirty minutes. I will be back then…and you Joker…"

"What?" Joker exchanged looks between Rudy and made a loud raspberry to the security officer. Rudy turned around angrily and started to walk back to his security post. The Jester giggled softly. "I'm gonna kill that creep before Thanksgiving…."

"Shut the fuck up and listen." Joker turned around and gave Hampton a resentful stare. "The government is tired of your rants BUT, is willing to do some concessions if you cooperate with some information regarding the virus. In order for this deal to work, you'd need to behave…normally."

"Normal?" The Jester said looking around joyfully. "We are behaving normally…aren't we boys?"

"Drop the insane clown routine, 'cause I'm not buying it. You're an intelligent man, Joker. A crazy lunatic would have not been able to get away with what you did with the defense system. Now it's your time to show off. Why don't you share with us how you did it? How did you get into the mainframe? Where can I find that hacker that was working for you?"

"Drop the curious fan routine, Hammy, cause I ain't buying it either. I do my shows for a different audience and just for fun, not fame, but you intrigue me. What type of things is your government offering that could possibly interest me?"

The government officer cleared his throat. "For one, I can make arrangements so you don't have to wear that straitjacket while you are on your cell."

"I will not wear that straitjacket again, whether you arrange it or not…NEXT!" Joker said jumping into bed and sitting against the wall to face the government official.

"I can arrange for you to have some type of distraction in here…" said Hampton looking around the almost empty cell. The only things inside the Joker's cell was a cot, a table, chair, sink and toilet all of them tightly bolted to the floor. "It has to be boring to be locked up all by yourself."

"I am not alone, Matt. I have me… and me…" The Clown scratched his head, yawned and raised a hand. "…and me too, and we can be very resourceful when we want. You're not impressing us one bit…"

"What is it you need, then?"

"Need? Isn't that obvious?" Joker started to laugh and straightened in bed. "I need to get out of here. You met Rudy. This place is depressing and no fun. And let's not talk about the food. As an extra treat can you please kill the cook? He is feeding us recycled garbage."

"Out of the question." Hampton replied emphatically.

Joker shrugged. "OK, I'll kill the cook. Can you kill the Batman for me then, please? It's a health issue with the rabies and all that…"

"Are you crazy? They're filming this, you know?" responded Hampton noticing the large smile on the Clown's face. That was a stupid question.

"Don't think I don't know you are having this camera shut off when we talk." Joker answered as he rose from the bed and pointed to the small camera at the door as he limped towards the acrylic door that separated him from the government official. "At least kill the Governor. He's guilty of abusing state funds to build larger and stronger prisons. Dumbass…as if he's gonna be able to stop crime in Gotham City." Joker cleared his throat. "And you know how hard it is going to be to get out of here on my own now?"

Hampton smiled maliciously. "I'm actually thankful that Major Stratton took the initiative to tighten security in an effort to keep psychopaths like you were they belong."

"Oh, my friends and I are starting to dislike you. Not good." Joker shook his head. "Thought you knew who ruled Gotham."

"Not you. You're locked in a lunatic asylum in case you forgot."

"Where I spent my vacations is none of your business, Ham. I work very hard to keep this city smiling and you just caught me between tours. I would reevaluate my alliances if I was you."

"You're not scaring me, Joker."

Joker got closer to the acrylic door, narrowed his eyes and glared at Hampton as he sniffed the air. "Yes, you're scared. I can smell it on you, as sweet as strawberry shortcake because if you weren't, you'll be more stupid than I thought. Some people are born dumb…that's why I have to kill them." The Clown Prince of Crime let out a loud cackle. "I do a service to society and that's what they don't want to understand."

"Here we go again, talking about murder. I was right…this was a waste of time. You're out of your fucking mind." Hampton said heading towards the security station.

"Oh, so now I'm crazy. Make up your mind, Hammy. You just said—"

"I know what I said," Hampton spat back acidly as he started to walk towards the security post. "But it is obvious that you couldn't have pulled anything like last year's incident. It was all your hacker's handiwork. You just enjoyed the show. So now enjoy yourselves in that cell, because I will find my answers with the real genius. We will find Garibaldi soon enough with or without your help."

"The nerd? You're a riot, Ham. There is a lot you can get if you play your cards right, but you don't even know the game we're playing." Joker said while laughing as Hampton had almost reached the exit. "And my favorite hand is the one with the cute little Cindy Lou, all alone at her birthday party. She has one coming soon, doesn't she? Will you be able to make it to this one, Matt or is this gonna be another long distance Happy Birthday song?"

The hall was silent. Joker shrugged and let out a chuckle as he walked back towards his bed. Then finally Hampton reappeared behind the acrylic door.

"What did you just say?"Hampton asked glaring at the Clown Prince.

"I was talking about your daughter," Joker giggled as he sat on the cot's edge. "Your little princess. Cindy Elizabeth Hampton, soon to be six years old and living with her mother Mary Alred--."

"How do you know about Cindy or Mary?" Hampton interrupted raising angrily his voice.

"I know a lot of things about you and your family and I know a lot about princesses. I had one for dinner once. It was her last supper." The Jester said boasting in a hysterical laughter. "Anyways, I have these crystals balls that when rubbed together give me a window to whatever it is I need to know. And it feels soooo good to rub them hard. Do you wanna see my balls?"Joker put a hand on his crotch and started to laugh.

Hampton grimaced. "I don't know how you got this information, but you'd better keep my family out of this…"

"But why? It's more fun when you add a wild card into the game, specially a five-year-old one," Joker said with a sheepish shrug. "It adds randomness, chaos. There's nothing more beautiful than chaos and your girl is the chaos in your life, isn't she? The pain in your soul since your divorced that witch you had for a wife."

"SHUT UP!" Hampton barked at the clown. "I'm warning you Joker…"

"It changes the meaning of the equation, doesn't it? It's like the Russian roulette. Put the bullet in, spin the barrel and let everything to chance. I'm sure Cindy would love the Russian roulette. I'll send her a gun for her birthday and teach her how to play. " The Joker put his index finger against his temple and faked a gunshot by mimicking an explosive noise.

"Joker, leave my family out of this or I can make your life here…very difficult."

"OOOHHH. Uncle Sam is threatening the Clown. What am I gonna do now?" Joker rose and walked slowly towards the government official with his tongue rubbing against his teeth. "OK. This is boring. We'll finish this later. In the meantime there is something you can actually do for me if your government is still interested in that stupid virus."

"What is it? Knowing you it has to be something sick."

"How little you know me, Matt. I'm gonna make it easy and cheap for you: Origami paper."

"Origami…? And you will help the government for origami paper?"

"Yes, I learned the ancient art of paper folding a long time ago, but never had a chance to practice it to its full beauty and it beats having to stare at the ceiling all day long. Even with all of us here, it can get really boring sometimes. Just ask him, he knows." The Joker said pointing beside him to an empty space.

"You will have to prove you know about the virus before you get anything from us, Joker."

"Sure, my pleasure. Joker said with an unusually wide toothy smile. "But when I'm done, I get my paper and later…I will kill you, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your pets, plants, dust mites--."

"Language of the virus, please…" Hampton angrily pressed on. The Jester sighed obviously annoyed and walked over his bathroom area where he picked a sheet of paper towel from the stack above the toilet tank. After sitting at his desk he started to write on the paper with a worn piece of crayon that was hidden within the table. Once he had finished, he hid the crayon again and he rushed to put the piece of paper though the scanner by the wall. A green light flashed as the scanner opened on Hampton's side. He took the torn piece of paper and after putting on a pair of glasses read over the scribbles that were written in a computer language he was not familiar with.

"And this is…"

"The beginning sequence for your elusive virus. Just to prove Uncle Sam my sincere desire to help." Joker responded with a perverse smile splitting his face. "I can be such the patriot at times…"

"This is something…like I've never seen before…"

"And never will, Hammy. For if you find it in your computer, kiss your motherboard goodbye because is mine to play with forever and usually anything I play with…for some reason…dies. Delicious." The Jester kissed the tip of his fingers and with a shrug, boasted in a crazy, hysterical laughter "And any more information will require the payment of one ream of origami paper, _por favor_."

"And I'm supposed to believe you wrote something like this? Do you have any computer training?"

"It's not just a program. It's a Joker original designed for a special type of cybernetic chaos. It works just like my mind works. Pure crystal clear chaos." The Clown Prince of Crime stood proudly in front of the door. "And I have a master's degree in chaos as you well know…"

"I will take this at my specialists and this better be true…" Hampton said folding the paper and securing it in one of the pockets of his suitcase. "Otherwise you're not getting any paper."

"True as the Gospels, Matt…I swear. Now get me my paper and we can talk some more… otherwise, leave me alone. Your voice is as disgusting in person as it was on the phone."

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Gerard threw his last dart hitting really close to the bulls eye taking the lead on the score. He smiled as he walked back to his chair dancing joyfully.

"Heh, see if you could top that, guys." He said taking a sip of his beer as he sat down at his table. Gerard leaned over and kissed the blonde girl sitting in front of him suggestively on the edge of the mouth. He licked his lips as he sat back on his chair. "No one can beat me tonight."

Gerard's phone rang loudly. He looked at the ID screen and not recognizing the caller, he transferred the call to his voice mail. He returned the phone to his pocket and stretched on his chair. The phone rang a second time. He looked into the screen again and saw the different number with the same Gotham City area code. He didn't know anybody anymore over there so he transferred the call to his voicemail again. When the phone rang a third time, he started to become very annoyed.

_Persistent little asshole,_ Gerard thought answering the phone this time. "Who the hell is this?"

"No need to be so gruff, boy. Where are your manners?" A strong male voice with a thick Asian accent answered on the other side. "Trying to play hard to catch?"

"Don't fuck with me, man." Gerard spat back. "This is the third time you call, isn't it? You better have something good to tell me or I'm going to send the Leopards after you."

"Ohh, I'm terrified. You're quite the bag of testosterone, Mr. Garnier." The Asian replied mockingly.

"Screw you. And how do you know my last name? How did you get a hold of this phone number?"

"Oh, I make my business to know everything I need to know to become successful in my line of work Mr. Garnier and right now I have my eyes set on you. Do you want to increase your yearly income by let's say…a 500 percent?"

"Very tempting if I only knew who I was talking to."

"We have common friends Mr. Garnier. Do you remember Neo, the computer hacker? He used to work with Charley Almeida if my memory serves me well."

"Charley is dead, Neo is in prison, and you said your name was?"

The man on the other end of the line grunted. "My name is a little difficult to pronounce by you Americans, so I let my friends call me Mr. D. and like you, I direct a very powerful organization."

"You still have not told me anything worth my time. What is your business with the Leopards?"

"Make you lots of money just to help me play a little game on a friend of mine, Mr. Garnier. Interested?"

"Why us?"

"I know the Leopards, Gerard. They are loyal, strong, and resourceful. You were once highly regarded in Brenton."

"We still are." Garnier responded resentfully.

"Not as in the past, I've heard, but I can restore your cattery to greatness if you want. All this, tax free and just for a little bit of your time, interesting no?"

"It's not that your offer is not good, Mr. D, but we have learned that if something looks too good it probably is. Last year fiasco with the psychotic clown has made us a little more suspicious of that type of offers."

"I'm no Joker, Mr. Garnier. Just a reputable businessman trying to extend his territory, that's all. Let's expand together."

"Expanding to a city with a rodent vigilante in case you don't read the news."

"The bat on steroids will not be a problem. You will work in the background while I will be in the foreground playing with the little vermin."

"You're strange Mr. D. Most people want to avoid the Batman."

"And that is their mistake. If no one is afraid of the rodent, the costumed vigilante loses its magic and becomes insignificant. Like an old rag. I'm not afraid of mice, Gerard. Are you?"

Garnier ponder for a moment. The rat was a legend in Gotham and Gerard had heard his men speak almost in supernatural terms of the vigilante, but he knew that the Batman was nothing more than a man in a costume. No mystical or extraterrestrial powers but a simple man who can bleed and die just like anybody else.

"Me neither. I take it you have plans for the Batman?'

"Plans I do have and they don't involve you, so you and your little boys club are safe." The Asian coughed loudly on the phone. "Would you at least consider my offer, Mr. Garnier?"

"I don't know…"

"Let me have a friend of mine meet you at Brenton with my offer and you will realize that there is just too much to win from an alliance between our teams."

"All right, the Leopards will listen, but that doesn't mean we're buying it. You understand, right?"

"Sure, didn't expect anything less, Mr. Garnier, and I can tell you that you are a much better leader than Ms. Almeida ever was. I see a lot of me on you. We'll talk real soon, I promise."


	2. Unbalanced Equation

_**Author's note:** Sorry for the delayed posting, but here is another chapter of this new story. Hope you guys like it. It was written with a lot of love for you all. Thanks for the support you have always showed. It warms my heart. Please feel free to review all you want and tell me what you think._

_DISCLAIMER 1: Batman and related characters belong solely to DC COMICS. I don't profit from this, guys._

_DISCLAIMER 2: There will be instances of MATURE LANGUAGE and SITUATIONS. Be adviced_

_BETA: Thanks a million to my great friend KICHI for beta-ing this story. I'm in your debt!_

**Chapter 2: Unbalanced Equation**

Bruce had not had time to prepare when Dick hit the ball hard, forcing it deep into his court. Bruce ran as fast as he could to meet the ball but it was impossible to plan the next play. He hit the ball in an awkward position as hard as he could and hoped for the best. Unfortunately hoping was not enough. He had hit the ball too hard and it went out of bounds.

"Master Dick wins this set and the match, sir."Alfred announced from his position as referee by the net.

"Well played, Dick." Bruce said going over to shake Nightwing's hand over the net. "Remember to never accept a tennis challenge from you."

"If it makes you feel better master Bruce, you have…" Alfred made a pause to ponder. "…great stamina. Those were three intense sets."

"At least someone cares for me. Thanks Alfred."

"Intense sets my ass," Tim said to Nightwing as he stood to receive the winner in his crutches, "He just can't believe you lasted that long. You were huffing that last set…I think you need to play in a wheelchair, Bruce."

Alfred cleared his throat. "Maybe it is time for Master Drake to return to HIS wheelchair?"

"Aww, come on Alfred, I seat all day on that thing…I wanna walk a little bit."

"The doctor recommended that your walks were to be limited. Better listen to Alfred."Bruce said.

"Come on kid, I will push you around in a second." Dick encouraged motioning to the chair. "Better be wearing your seatbelt when I do, OK?"

All four headed inside the house. Tim was screaming as Dick pushed the wheelchair with all his might to get it as fast as he could. Inside the house, the phone rang.

"I will be getting that," the butler answered disappearing swiftly into the kitchen. Dick had finally finished playing with Tim and set the wheelchair by the fireplace, letting himself into the velvet armchair nearby.

"When are you planning on going back to Bludhaven, Dick?" Bruce asked

"I'm gonna stay for a few days, be with Barbara and stick around. You don't mind, right?

"No, I don't. This will always be your home. It's just…it was good to work with you again." Bruce said softly. Emotions were not easy with him and it showed. Dick smiled timidly and Tim laughed at him. Alfred entered the living room with a somber look in his face. Everybody in the room stopped smiling and looked at the butler.

"Master Bruce. That would have been the Commissioner, using the cave line." Bruce noticed concerned butler's attitude. It was definitely never good when Gordon called Batman. It usually meant the city was in trouble, but Alfred's tone, foreshadowed worse news. "He said that they found Dark Tom and Boss Garrison murdered and he wants to see you in his office as soon as possible. He said it seemed like a Joker crime."

"Joker…? Impossible. Isn't that Clown still locked up in Arkham?" Dick said puzzled.

"Yes, he is, but when has that stopped Joker before?" Bruce answered gloomily.

"If you want me to stay longer…. You know, in case you need me." Dick said as he stood and put a reassuring hand over Bruce's shoulder.

"No it's fine. It shouldn't be that hard since the prime suspect is already locked up."

"Ok, just let me know if you need anything."

"I will. Thanks."

"Come on kiddo, let's leave the Dark Knight do his work." Dick pushed Tim in his wheelchair amidst complains from Robin about missing the action and both left towards the dormitories to take a shower and change. Bruce walked by the fireplace and looked at the logs and ash accumulated inside as if expecting them to talk back to him. In his mind he was reliving the events of the preceding months when the Clown last escaped and almost killed him. At that moment the lunatic had lost total control and in his insanity, he almost took him and the people he loved most along with him for a ride.

"The Batmobile computer is updated and the tank is full. Anything else I can do for you, sir?" Alfred said softly and almost paternally. He knew the news were not something the Detective was expecting. A long silence was his cue to leave. Bruce was busy in his thought.

"Alfred…" The butler stopped and looked back. "He has hurt so many people…so many times after each one of his escapes. He is now locked up in a cell all by himself with security doubled at the Asylum just for him and there're people in this city still dying because of him …"

"Your point being, sir…"

"Did I do the right thing by sending him back to the Asylum again…? The Feds wanted him, and for the first time I had the chance to get him away from this city. God knows that I wanted to pull the plug on that psychopathic monster, but he is not well and the government was not going to help him. You know that, don't you?"

"They would have probably solved his problem with a lethal injection."

"Exactly, but don't he deserve that…after all he has done? Is his insanity enough excuse to not make him pay?"

"You don't need me to tell you the answer to that question, sir."

"Then why do I doubt my judgment?"

"Because the right decisions are never the easiest to make." Bruce lifted his head to look at the man he considers almost like a father. "Especially knowing the consequences it could carry. But you opted to take the road less traveled and saved the life of your enemy, in the hope that one day your enemy will understand the sacrifice that was made."

"He will never understand. He's crazy. He doesn't care about anything but his chaos."

"I can't tell the future, Master Bruce. I don't think it was on my resume." Alfred answered with a subtle smile. "But you have a very good record of following your gut instincts and being right. I would trust myself if I was you."

Batman looked at Alfred who just gazed back with those paternal eyes he knew so well. He was right. "Thanks Alfred…"

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Neo was guided to the large meeting room by two hulky officers, and forced to sit at the phone station. The guards removed his shackles and left him at the table while they walked back to stand by the door. Neo looked at the phone screen in front of him and saw the red blinking line. He didn't recognize the number in the ID screen, but he could tell from the area code it was a local number. Who might it be? No one ever made contact with him after his arrest. Not even his family in Brenton. _So much for family_, he thought as he picked up the phone.

"Yes?" He answered dryly.

"I hope that prison has not dull your intellect, boy. Where are your manners?" A man in a thick accent answered back.

"Who's this? What you want?"

"A friend, maybe the only one you have now so show some respect. They told me about your hacking adventures Mr. Neo and you managed to impress me which is not easy. Maybe you will be interested in a job."

"How do you know me?"

"Word of mouth, or should I say…cybermouth? You came well recommended."

"Listen up. I'm not up for jokes. In case you don't realize, 'friend', I'm unavailable at the moment. Do you even know what number you dialed at all?"

"If you are referring about your stay at Blackgate's, Mr. Riverside…yes I know, but you soon will be released and then we can make business. And if I was you, I will be more subtle when I talk, 'cause the police and us are not on the same radio station, if you know my meaning. "

"I see. And how do you want to help me Mr.…?"

"My name is not important, but you can call me Mr. D. and what I need is for you to work in a little pet project I have. It's going to be right up your alley Mr. Neo. Would you be interested on working in a state of the art artificial intelligence facility?" The hacker remained silent. It sounded too good to be true, but anything beat staying behind bars indefinitely. His fingers have been itching to get behind a keyboard and hack the cyberspace again. That is what he was born to do. Neo pondered for a moment. His main goal was to get out of this hell hole…and someone had just opened the door.

"When can you make the arrangements?'

"When can I have an answer?"

Neo made a pause before answering and looked at the guards at the door. "Now. I say yes."

"Good, done deal then. We'll be meeting soon. Bye Mr. Neo."

"Hey, how long--? The hacker protested.

"Not long. Good things come to those who wait, Mr. Riverside. Good day." The phone line went dead and Neo was left staring silently at the guards with a useless phone in his hand. He wondered if he had made a good decision in accepting Dokeshi's offer, but it was just that he could do more than stare at the ceiling all day. And if someone was willing to pay him, well, that was an even more welcomed offer.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Gordon's office was somewhat of a mess. After the six weeks he had to spend in the hospital recovering from the injuries the Joker left him with, files and reports had started to accumulate in large piles over his desk. In crutches, the Commissioner was trying to move folders and files into smaller piles in order to clear a small area on his desk in which he could work…reading through all that material was going to take long hours of overtime. While precariously moving a group of files, Gordon noted a dark figure moving among the cops in the hall outside the office. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in," answered the Commissioner letting go of the files on his hand over the small cot he had always had in his office. The dark figure of the Dark Detective slipped into the office and closed the door behind him. "I thought I had seen you, but you…knocking at the door? The world must be coming to an end."

Batman noticed a hint of a smile under the white moustache. "I thought you didn't like my stealthy arrivals."

"Only when I'm not expecting you…my heart is not what it used to be."

"How're you fearing…?" the Dark Detective said gingerly pointing to the crutches. "…your leg?"

"I'm back to work…after a knee replacement surgery and internal fixation…only to find this mountain of paperwork I have to go through…I'm fine, but I think there are other matters we need to discuss than my health."

"Yes, Garrison and Dark Tom's murders. What do you have on the case?"

Gordon opened a solitary file placed over the office's portable refrigerator and handed a group of pictures to the Knight. Space was becoming scarce in the office and every inch counted. "Two murders only hours apart with no apparent motive same MO. They dispatched Garrison and Clancy's men at gunpoint and stabbed the Mafiosi multiple times using razor sharp Joker playing cards. Now where do you get those?"

"You sure?" The Detective answered back with obvious apprehension in his voice. When was the nightmare going to stop? "Our murderer was not working alone. And signing it with the Joker's trademark points to the Clown but there is something that doesn't feel right about it."

"Yes the fact the main suspect is behind bars." Gordon opened a drawer from his desk and retrieved an evidence bag with a playing card inside. He handed the bag to Batman. "There was nothing missing from the crime scenes, no fingerprints, no indication of forced entry. They seemed to have known the murderer and opened the doors to him and his group. I was able to save one of the Joker cards for you."

"Joker's very resourceful, but what I don't see is what he could possibly get out of killing them now," Batman said while scrutinizing the card in his hand, "It's been almost seven months since he worked with them…too late to deliver the punch line. Joker would not find it funny. It looks more like someone is trying to frame him."

"Come on, Batman, look at us scratching our heads on how he did it. He would love to prove that he has outsmarted the system, and made a fool of you. Besides, who in his right mind would want to frame the Clown?"

"Joker has many enemies, and some might be crazy enough to go through such a plan, but we still have to exonerate him from the crime. What else did your people find at the crime scene?"

"Nothing that could serve us as a lead." Gordon took a sip of his water bottle. "I'm running into a wall here."

"This card is a Joker original," Batman said as he weighed the card in his hand. "Which means they come from someone with access to his equipment and poison. Have you heard of Garibaldi?"

"No. It's like he had just disappeared from the face of the earth. But you think he will be able to pull something like this?"

"Joker is isolated and needed help to commit the murders. Blip will be my first subject, since he and the Clown have worked together for so long. And because someone has access to Joker's private card stacks, makes me think that Garibaldi will be the logical link if someone is trying to frame his boss."

"But why?"

"Don't know. But Joker has amassed a long list of enemies along the years, even people that once worked for him. It's too early for conjectures."

"Doing this for revenge? A little farfetched knowing Blip though," Gordon said removing his glasses and massaging his forehead. "I had just hoped that Michael would know better than to associate with the Clown after what happened."

"Yes, but Joker also risked his freedom for Garibaldi's safety during the missile crisis. There is a strange relationship between those two that I have not being able to figure out. Blip has to have been active even when we had not seen or heard of him. He would have needed to rebuild his computer network, so I would assume someone has been buying a lot of electronic equipment in the last few months."

"That is going to be difficult to track, especially with such a large volume of electronics sales in the whole city." Batman nodded. "But I will see what I can find. I will be very happy putting that hacker behind bars." Gordon replied organizing the files on his desk. "But what you think of the cards?"

Batman looked meticulously to the card held in the evidence bag, feeling the hard metal edge and smooth surface of the card. "Custom made throwing cards made of aluminum and steel alloy. Regular part of Joker's arsenal of deadly gags, no doubt this is an original."

"These cards are not only razor sharp but are coated in Joker venom. Not many people have access to the Joker's toxin."

Batman held tightly to the card in his hand. "No, that is a secret Joker keeps very close to his heart. Still, I don't see how could Joker profit from pointing all the leads to him, when he is already in custody. I think this is someone else's doing."

"I suspected that…another psycho loose in town." Gordon said rubbing his forehead wearily. "But if it was Joker… How is he doing this…and why? He's in solitary confinement and a brand new security system installed just for him."

"Maybe it is time to test the new security system at Arkham…"

oooooooooooooooooooooo.

The origami paper had been a great idea. He had not had anything more interesting to do for months now, and this beat staring up at the ceiling anytime or murdering imaginary people. Joker sat at his desk, hunched over a small pile of green origami paper and giggled childishly as he ran a thin bony finger along the green paper folded along the crease of a previous fold. He didn't remember too well, but he was almost sure that this piece of paper would become a frog that he could make jump. Killer origami frog…Hilariously wonderful idea. Joker cackled then sighed. Unfortunately he didn't have any venom close by, but he was good at improvising.

The giraffe, the elephant, the crow and the bear were some among the animals already in his origami collection. In a few hours he will have a whole menagerie and he could play with his little zoo. Joker busted into crazy laughter as another idea popped into his head: a Jokerized zoo loose on the middle of Gotham. He filed the idea in the back of his brain future reference and returned to work. He turned the frog over and continued folding sections of the legs while humming joyfully when a shadow with high pointy ears appeared on the wall in front of him. Joker didn't take his eyes from the desk for he knew the eyes staring at him from behind.

"Well, there goes my VIP membership to this club. They will let everybody in this joint these days…" Joker said giggling. "I thought my visits had been restricted."

"And I thought you were supposed to be wearing a straitjacket." The shadow responded back.

"I've been a good boy lately, earned my gold star and I'm now in a straitjacket-free environment." The Jester answered going back to his origami frog. "And you're upset that I'm behaving so well…right?"

"You're always up to something," the shadow growled. "And I'm not here to play games with you, Joker."

"But we always play games. You and me. The comedian and his straight man making this city laugh to death." The Clown said jovially, looking at the shadow on the wall while he continued folding his frog. "And you need some cologne 'cause I could smell you from a mile away. Did you forget to shower?"

A pair of black gloves rand over the Joker's desk tossing the paper on the floor and crushing a few of the origami animals sitting on the edge. "ENOUGH!!"

"Hey, you know how long it took me to make those?" Joker protested, when the same black gloves lifted him from the chair. "There's still something called private property in this country. I will call security…"

"Go ahead, call them…I want to ask them why you're not wearing a straitjacket and who's sneaking origami paper to a man in solitary confinement. The role of victim doesn't look good on you, Clown."

"There goes the name calling…Bat-breath" Joker retorted angrily spitting the last word on the Batman's face. "Say, something must have happened for you to come 'ere angry like this…you ran out of Viagra…" The Clown Prince started to laugh softly. "…and you have not been laid in a while…I can tell."

"SHUT UP!! You know why I'm here, Joker." Batman lifted the Clown Prince an inch from the floor and stood inches from his face.

"You realized how crazy you are and following my advice decided to check yourself in?" The Clown said with that smile on his face extended wide. "Welcome to hell, Bats. I will recommend you go through one of Dr. Arkham's electroshock therapies. By the way, you need a mint."

Batman slapped Joker who started giggle as he ran a hand to his busted lip. The Knight pushed the Jester against the wall. "Stop playing with me, Joker. I know you killed Garrison and Dark Tom."

"And you're gonna get me to confess by beating me silly. Come on, Bats. Since when has that worked between us? Try something new…I don't know. Rub my ego, shine my shoes…" The Jester pointed to his mouth, "… and if you kiss my booboo I might share some sweet secrets with you."

Batman lifted pressed Joker hard against the wall. A deep growl started to rumble deep in his throat. The Clown Prince's eyes glinted with joy. "…or maybe let that anger you hold inside consume every single inch of incorruptible spirit you so proudly boast about. You think I did it? Punish me. Come on. Give me your best shot and I will enjoy it, 'cause I miss the pain."

The Detective threw Joker across the cell towards his bed, but the Clown Prince missed the cot and fell painfully beside it. In the floor, the Jester started to giggle insanely between moans.

"I'm not going down to your level, Joker. I am not you."

"God forbid…there can only be one ME, but you come second close." The Jester responded between giggles. "And if you still doubt that, you definitely need to be locked up in here. But I can wait. I will see you lose it and then, there will be no difference between us and you'll belong to me. In the meantime, keep me entertained. What you wanna play tonight?"

"I know you ordered Garrison and Dark Tom's murders. It's a matter of time before I find out how you did it or you can just tell me."

"No, no, no. It is much more fun if you try to find out by yourself. I saw your detective skills stumble once…and that was quite a show." Joker smiled widened maliciously. "Then maybe I didn't kill them at all, and you are blaming the wrong clown. You know I'm not the only psychopath with murderous tendencies in this city, right? Gotham City does that to you…brings the worst of each one of us."

"You had a motive…they betrayed you before."

"And since when I cared for a motive to kill. Seeing people die is just fun and it makes me one happy clown but this…this is a riot."Joker looked intensely into the Detectives eyes a laugher started to climb up the Clown Prince's throat until it reached his lips. The corners of the Jester's mouth quivered and he started to laugh hysterically.

"What is so funny?"

"Do you realize…" The Joker started to say between chortles. "Do you realize how absurd it is what you're saying, Bats? How do you think I would have pulled killing those two while locked up in here?" The Clown Price wiped off a tear from the corner of his eye. "I have no clue. I mean…I'm good, but am I that good? HA! Of course I'm so good and you don't even know if I really did it or not and that is making you go nuts." Joker started to laugh hysterically again.

"The murderer left razor sharp Joker playing cards coated with your toxin at the scene of the crime."

"So what? You know you can get those on Ebay, right? It's called memorabilia. I've left so many of those around this city… " Joker flung back almost out of air after laughing so hard. His demeanor suddenly changed as he tried to recover his composure between giggles. "Wait…you said my toxin?"

"Yes, your toxin."

"Yeah, my toxin." Joker boasted into a crazy fit of laughter once more. "Oh, Bats, you're killing me. This is rich. So they died laughing…please, tell me more. I wanna know. That'll make my day."

"If it wasn't you, doesn't it bother you that someone might be killing using your trademark?"

"Not anymore, and I owe you that feeling of freedom." The Joker smiled placidly. "Laughter is indeed the best medicine…after slaughter. I'm cool as long as someone dies. Hey, you are not the only one who inspires people in this town. Obviously I got fans too."

Batman forced the Jester on his feet and stare directly into his forest green eyes. Those were cold green eyes with no emotion but the childish joy of the boy who was playing with his favorite toy. He was not bulging under the pressure and it was difficult to determine if he had anything to do directly with the murders. The reaction to the news was a combination of surprise and insane Joker humor. This could all be one big game that the Jester was enjoying at the Detective's expense.

"I will figure out how you did it. You're not getting away with murder again…"

"I think I already did, but whatever, Bats. Just let me know when you hit that wall. You don't see bats splattered on walls often. Now leave me alone…your scaring my precious cellulose pets."

Batman released his grip on the Clown Prince. Never before had the Joker bulged at the Detective's threats because unlike sane men, he was not afraid of him. This approach was not going to work. Batman wondered if there was anything left of the man Joker used to be…the man who, even for a brief moment was capable of feeling guilt and remorse.

"Joker….Jack…" Batman said after a long pause. His voice sounded more like a plea than a demand.

"Don't use that name. Jack is dead, doesn't exist," Joker said angrily grouping the sheets of origami paper from the floor.

"Jack…it doesn't have to be like this. You and I…"

"Connected?" Joker said looking up at the tall darkened figure, a soft smirk on his face. "How cute…you connected with a fig of my imagination. This is not a séance, Bats so stop trying to talk to the dead. If you don't have anything more interesting to say, don't let the door hit your cape on the way out!" The Jester jerked a thumb towards the door and turned to his crumbled origami figures, patting them with great tenderness. "Come on kids, you don't have to see this…"

"No, Jack. Joker is a fig of YOUR imagination. He's not real. You created him to escape the real world." The Clown remained silent and extending one hand he set the papers on the desk again. With great effort Joker sat at his desk and carefully placed the paper in a corner. "It doesn't have to be like that…come back…we can talk."

"Sure we can talk. How is Boy Wonder…any permanent brain damage? More than usual, I mean. How 'bout Catlady…she just came back from the dead…again, didn't she? How many more lives do I still need to take before she finally dies?"

Batman slammed an angry fist on the desk making Joker cower against the wall. "Jack…you don't want to hurt anymore…not you… not anybody else…Joker makes you lose control. Don't let him."

"You didn't learn from last time, did you? Believe me. You'll prefer me over him because I'm funnier."

"But you can't hear a thing over your own laughter, Joker. Talking to you is like talking to a wall."

"But I'm a funny wall…" The Jester giggled.

"This is such a waste…" The Detective rumbled under his breath. "You're a total waste of talent…and a coward."

Joker rose violently from the chair and threw a fist at the dark cowled figure but he missed the Detective's face by a few inches. The Clown lost his balance but the Knight stopped his fall. Joker pulled away from the Batman's grip angrily and held to the desk, pulling himself to recover his equilibrium. The Dark Knight put a hand over the Jester's shoulder but Joker brushed him away and started to laugh at the same time he let himself heavily on the chair.

"Coward? You and your stupid self-righteousness. I'm not the one hiding behind a mask here and the only waste here is you trying to protect this people that don't deserve you. They don't want you, Bats. When are you going to get it? For them you are as important as the man who picks up their trash in the morning. Stop feeling about them and see them for what they really are…"

"Innocent people who need to be protected from things like you…"

"No, no, no. They are puppets with no purpose in life but make me laugh when they die. Proof that their miserable existences are totally useless unless they play with me. And you are their puppet too. They cheer you when they need you and when they don't, they don't want you anywhere close. Ever wondered what they would do when you're not needed anymore? What would happen if you were to become their enemy? Now there's a thought..."

"You are crazy."

"It's my gift and you're creepy. Now leave me alone, 'cause it's past my bedtime." Joker said with a cackle. The Jester had recovered his poised composure, and let himself back on his chair. The Dark detective turned away and started to leave when the Clown Prince started to laugh wildly. "Hey Bats, I know how I killed Garrison and Dark T….an evil twin, from the twilight zone or a clone. You think somebody will buy the rights for a movie. The Clown Wars. HA! Maybe I can talk to Lucas about a deal? I could make a killing out of the royalties… literally."

The Bat left the cell silently and Joker started to hum a tune as he continued working in his green origami frog. He liked frogs…they made a splashy noise when they were run over by a car and could make a real mess if you fed them a marble grenade. The Prince smiled. This visit had been fun and very informative. After all he had a reason to be happy tonight.


	3. Let the Games Begin

_**Author's note:** Hi everybody. First of all...HAPPY HOLIDAYS to ALL (and Happy belated Thanksgiving to my fans)_

_Another day, another chapter. Like promised, I'm trying to post more often and try to keep it to once a month as long as my working schedule allows. Hope everybody is liking this little story. Please feel free to drop me reviews, PMs and emails with your views and and/or constructive criticism. I love listening to the fans, and I love responding to their concerns. Thanks all for reading. That's it for now, please enjoy_

_DISCLAIMER 1: Batman and related characters belong to DC COMICS and I dont make any money from this. My only character is Michael Garibaldi (AKA Blip), so please treat him fairly...his a good boy! (HAHA!)_

_DISCLAIMER 2: There will be instances of MATURE LANGUAGE and SITUATIONS with some SEXUAL INNUENDO sprinkled over some chapters. Please be advice_d

BETA: I would like to thank once more to the wonderful KICHI for lending her talents as a beta for this story. I will always be in your debt, and if you guys want to check her storytelling talent, I recommend her TDK series: Masks, Daes Irae, and my fav...Vitiate

**CHAPTER 3: Let the Games Begin**

Bruce closed the Garrison file on his computer. Many people wanted the Mafiosi dead, but he couldn't find anyone else that had access to the Jester's equipment or toxin. The Clown always worked alone and all the leads pointed that Joker had to be the one and only murderer. Could it be that easy? There was a missing piece in this puzzle and his visit to the Asylum had not yield any answers.

And there was one more mystery in this crime. The two Mafiosi seemed to have invested close to three million dollars each in an almost defunct electronic manufacturer from Japan. That was a lot of money to invest in a company with no market value and it definitely was not a joint venture, since both crime lords were sworn enemies. No clue was to be found here, time to seek answers somewhere else. Batman walked down the stairs to the main vault where he kept his forensic station and sat at the fumes hood and put on some examination gloves.

He opened the evidence bag Gordon had given him very carefully under the hood. He felt the card in his hand, thin aluminum alloy with surgical sharp borders and immediate knew he was dealing with a Joker original and not a reproduction. He sprayed the card with a clear mist of ninhydrin and ran it under a specialized lamp. Not a single fingerprint, but that didn't surprise him. Bruce turned to the magnifying glass and started to look over the card when he heard a noise behind him. He looked into the reflection on the glass and noticed Tim approaching the bat cave's forensic station.

"You shouldn't be here," Bruce said returning to the analysis. "The doctor recommended you get as much rest as you could."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…. and in the meantime Robin goes mad." Drake riposted standing by the evidence analysis hood where Batman was seated. "Are you going to pay for the psychiatrist bill too?"

"You're not going to use the exercise machine, Tim. So you can find something quiet to do upstairs."

"Ok, ok. I will not exercise but I'm still bored…can I at least help you with the evidence. You still think Joker ordered the murders?"

"Yes."

"Have you figured out how?"

"Working on it."

"Is that evidence from the murders?"

"Yes."

"Man, you hardly talk when you are in the middle of your detective stuff."

"I'm answering your questions, no?"

"Yeah but at this rate I would be briefed on the case by the next century." Robin retorted angrily, letting out a disgusted snort. "Hey, maybe Joker ordered the murders before he was locked up."

"Possible, but not likely."Batman said scraping a corner of the picture on the card. He tested the scrapings confirming the ink was original. "They must've received their orders recently."

"They?"

"This required team work. We probably have at least two murderers on each crime scene."

"Wow. But if the Governor increased the security around him, how is he getting the word around?"

"That is exactly what I'm trying to figure out with the card, Tim." Bruce said taking a moment to look at the young ward at his side. "If you allow me some space I will use the electron microscope on the card and if you want to stick around…."

"Ok, ok…I know when I am not welcome. I just wanted to help, Bruce."

"You're welcome here, Tim, but the truth is you'll help me best if you rested."

Tim frowned and set his crutches aside as he started to walk unsupported. "I'm fine, see?" Robin said, but at the third step he tripped, falling over Bruce at the hood. Batman left what he was doing to grab Tim before he fell to the floor and when removing his hands, he spilled a bottle of silver nitrate inside the hood that completely covered and stained the card and the evidence bag.

"You OK?" Batman asked with obvious concern in his voice.

"Yes…oh Bruce I'm sorry…" Tim responded with a hint of sadness in his voice when he saw the puddle of silver nitrate inside the hood. Batman looked at the damaged evidence and let out a disgusted snort. "I'm really sorry. I should've thought of …"

"It's all right." There was a moment of silence. Bruce needed to repeat in his head that everything really was all right; maybe then he will be able to believe it. "The important thing is that you are OK. Did you hurt anything?"

"No…but, I feel so bad. I'm really sorry…" Tim's eyes started to sparkle with tears that started to surface. "I really didn't mean for this to happen…"

"I said its fine…just…go upstairs and rest, alright?"

Tim could hear the urgency in his mentor's voice and knew there was no argument possible. He grabbed the crutches and silently exited the cave, his head down. Bruce sighed heavily, a combination of anger and frustration. Accidents happen, but right now was not a good moment for one. He silently went under the hood and grabbed a small pan that he filled with distilled water. Batman also grabbed a roll of paper towels and after rolling the hood window up, he started the clean up. He grabbed the card and the evidence bag and tossed them into the pan while he sprayed the surface of the hood with some cleaning solution.

The communicator beeped twice and Bruce looked over the monitor to see who was calling. "Yes Barbara?"

"It's good to see that you're still awake. I have a report on what you asked me before."

"About Joker's privileges? What have you got?"

"He's been talking to Mathew Hampton from the Office of Homeland Security. Remember him?"

"Yes he was the White House envoy during the Joker's missile threat. Is he the one getting Joker his origami paper?"

"Yes, in exchange for information it seems, Mr. Hampton has been gracious enough to arrange a few privileges for the Clown, among them not wearing his straitjacket in his cell and his origami paper."

"What type of information, do you know?"

"No. Actually, Joker and Hampton would be the only ones knowing that. They have been turning off the security camera in Joker's cell during these weekly meetings at Homeland's security request."

"Mr. Hampton does not know who he is dealing with. Joker can't be trusted and I find it very unlikely that Joker will be so cooperative, for just a bunch of paper." Batman made a short pause. "And I don't like that the Joker is not under surveillance around the clock. It's just too risky."

"From what I've been able to gather…Joker was the one that came up with the idea of the origami."

"Really? There has to be something else and he is using the origami paper, somehow to communicate, but how? I saw the origami animals in his cell, they're not much."

"Maybe somebody inside the Asylum is taking note of what Joker does and knows the code Joker uses."

"It's a possibility. I'm going to request that only one guard be assigned to him and take all his origami paper. Still, origami makes no sense. It's just an art, no pattern to it. There has to be something more. I need to take a closer look at those origami animals."

"You think he is planning to use the origami to escape again…?"

"I'm not sure, but at least I know that he is giving orders to his minions to murder people for him and that has to stop." "Oh, I almost forgot. I found some more information on NippoX. It used to have dealings with the US Armed forces but two years ago lost all contracts with the American government. From then on, the company spiraled downwards until it was bought out by a Francis Kirkpatrick for very little cash less than a year ago. Mr. Kirkpatrick found other investors for the company, Garrison and Dark T among others. All of them owned a lot of stock in that company."

"Thus saving the company from total dissolution. I saw their books, over three million dollars in a little over six months. Very clever this Mr. Kirkpatrick, but what could interest Garrison and Clancy to put their investments in a company about to collapse. What does NippoX deal with?"

"Military materials development and computer software for missile guiding systems and virtual pilots for aircraft that didn't deliver. The Air Force didn't buy and scratched the projects."

"Not enough. What could possibly interest them from NippoX? "

"That would be something to ask Kirkpatrick, but reaching him has been close to impossible. He avoids the media like a vampire avoids the light."

"He could just be a very private person, but I think he is hiding something. When did they buy out NippoX?"

"Seven months ago."

"Hmmm…" Bruce said folding his arms over his chest.

"I know that sound, what are you thinking?"

"A company almost bankrupt, a mystery buyer and close to six months of dealings with Garrison and Dark T…something tells me to start looking for Garibaldi."

"Why? You think that the nerd has dealings with this company too?"

"Or maybe the nerd IS the company. He would have access to the latest technology while still managing Joker's investments. Too good of a deal for anyone."

"Yes, but on the same line of reasoning, why would Garibaldi buy stock on a company about to collapse? If he was trying to recover the losses from Laughling and White, he could've made a better choice."

Bruce shook his head. He had hit a wall there. "I don't know for sure but there must be something in that company that would interest Garibaldi enough to try his best to save it. We need to know what else NippoX dealt with. I'm guessing is more than just military equipment. Is there anyone besides Mr. Kirkpatrick we could talk to in NippoX, Oracle?"

"The Overseas Investment Department for NippoX is in New York, but the VP running the department is currently in Gotham attending a week-long technology meeting. His name is Drago Metzger."

"I need to find where Mr. Metzger is staying and paying him a visit. Maybe he can answer some questions for us."

"I'll do my best to get you that information, and will dig a little more in NippoX curriculum. This all smells so rotten…"

"Yes it does. Thanks Barbara. Batman out."

Once he had finished cleaning the hood, he put gloves on again and picked up the card from the water. To his surprise, he noted an abnormal stain pattern on the back of the card. The whole card was now a uniform dark charcoal color, but towards the center of the card the staining was a lot lighter. Odd, metal doesn't react to the nitrate, he thought. Bruce adjusted the angle of the card and checked the metal edge, which still preserved its silvery shine. The iodine must have reacted with the painted pattern of the card. Playing with the light angle on the smooth surface, he quickly noticed a large smiley face with something coming from its mouth… It was a smiley face that was sticking his tongue out mockingly at him.

"This is no coincidence. What games are you playing, Joker?" Upon closer examination the smiley face was more than just mocking him, at the bottom of the pictorial, a rudimentary hand was pointing downwards to something. He got up and walked over to the miniature electronic microscope at the forensic station of the cave. He scanned the card's surface slowly and finally found the clue he was searching for, right under the smiley's hand, the line that delineated the border of the card was not just a line, but a sequence of numbers that started right where the figure was pointing at.

"81818181563…. Clever, Clown…Very clever." Bruce said as he extracted the long number sequence and entered into his PDA. "81…spelling HA. Laugh now, Joker, because I will have the last laugh…"

He then remembered the other cards in the Police Department's possession. Batman removed his gloves, tossed them in the trash bin by the hood and set the Joker playing card back to dry inside the hood. He rose from the chair and walked over the bat suit.

"Computer, call Gordon." He ordered starting to put the armored suit on.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Joker was on his fifth loop around the small hospital track on the roof of the building. Two small turrets held armed officers who were staring attentively to the track and high above, a helicopter was doing a round. He was taking his time with the walk; the brace was now becoming a nuisance more than a help to keep the pain away from his leg. Joker stopped in his tracks and efficiently resisted the pull from the guard's chains.

"Hey ladies," the Jester said laughing softly at the guards around him. "I feel like a donkey in a mill, so if you don't mind, I will like to go back to my room to eat my hay."

"Your exercise hour is not over yet, so keep moving Clown." One of the guards ordered as he pulled on the chain attached to the Joker's waist as if he was pulling a cow. The Jester resisted the pull.

"Don't you girls get a hint? I don't want to walk anymore. I'm tired, and I have this itch right here between my legs. I think I got baby rash." The Joker protested.

"KEEP. WALKING." Rudy said pulling forcefully on the chain holding the Clown Prince of Crime.

"NO. MORE. I'm on strike. A genius like me shouldn't be walking aimlessly like a mule. You're the beasts not me." The Joker let himself sink heavily to the floor, crossing his legs. He would have his way even if he had to throw a tantrum and if they wanted him to walk they would have to drag him across the floor. From the access door a guard hurried quickly to meet Rudy. They exchanged looks and some whispered words and the Clown noted that Rudolph sighed deeply as he rolled his eyes.

"Ok Joker, time to get back…"

"Oh goody…YAY!" The Clown said springing back up again quickly on his feet. "Who's gonna help me with my rash…maybe some A&D cream with zinc in my tush right in my crack, eh? Any volunteers?"

"SHUT UP!" Rudy retorted without looking at Joker.

"You know my friends and I are starting to hate you, right Rudolph?"

"I think I can live with that." The officer said dryly pulling the Joker back to the building and through a long hall. "NOW WALK!!"

The Clown Prince and the escorting security guards stopped at a door by the end of the hall. Joker looked confused, why wasn't he heading back to his acrylic cell? He tried to remember in which part of the building he was, but there were so many rooms in this forsaken place… Rudolph came by the door and slid his card on the reader by the doorframe as he turned to the guards.

"Get him in and secure the chains. I'll be right back." Rudolph ordered as he headed down the hall.

"Hey, this is not my cell and I really need to get back…." The Clown Prince said doing steps on the floor. "Need to visit the little Clown's room."

Rudolph turned angrily to the slim bound figure with the smiling face. "Shut the fuck up clown…do you realize how annoying you are? You have a visitor…and you will wait for him here. Is that plain enough for you…?"

Joker pondered on the guard's words for a moment while Rudy left and the remaining guards pulled him into the room. "Ooh, no. I think I know who this is and I don't want to talk to him. Please, have mercy. Return me to my cell before the rodent comes! I haven't gotten my rabies shot yet…." The clown pleaded starting to cry. The other three guards pulled the Jester into the room with all their might and it took all three of them to force him to seat at the lonely desk bolted to the center of the room. They secured Joker's jacket to the chair and the chains from his belt were bolted efficiently on the floor. Joker continued to cry bitterly, accompanying his sobs with howls and moans.

Rudolf entered the room again and behind him the dark sleek figure of the Dark Knight entered behind him. Joker looked at the black figure and his howls went a few octaves higher.

"Leave us alone officer. Joker and I need to discuss some…personal business."

"No can do, Mr. Batman. We're not supposed to lose this psycho from our sight, sir…governor's orders."

"I guarantee you he's not going anywhere officer, and if he tries anything, I can take care of him."

"Yeah, like in the warehouse… and the penthouse…." The Joker whispered smiling perversely, as he started to moan and cry again.

Batman glared angrily at the Clown Prince. He did not need to be reminded how the Joker had surprised him and rendered him helpless. _Bad move Joker, bad move_, Batman thought while the Clown Prince in front of him started to stomp his feet on the floor and moan painfully loud. "Joker…stop with the theatrics…nobody cares about your performances."

"It's not a performance…." howled the Clown. "I need to pee…NOW!"

"I'm not in the mood, Joker." Batman grabbed the Jester by the straightjacket and pulled him forcefully towards him until he was just centimeters from his face. "Either you stop this behavior right now, or I'm going to show you how to behave the only way you seem to understand. Are you following?"

Joker looked at the Caped Crusader with a gladdened look; his forest green eyes open wide and his carved ruby lips widened into a grotesque mockery of a smile. "Ooops! I don't think I need to go anymore…'cause I think I just went...wee wee." The clown busted into a hysterical laughter and Batman pushed the laughing Jester back onto the chair. "Rudy, can you bring a mop? The Big Bad Bat just made me pee in my pants…"

"Batman, do you need me to chain him tighter to the chair…?" Rudolph started to say.

"What I really need is some time alone...with the patient." Batman said with obvious exasperation at the same time the Jester's laughter started to subside to soft giggles. The officer tried to argue the point but the Dark Knight gave him a very persuasive look. There was no room for discussion. This was not a choice, it was a command. Rudolph turned around and started to walk out of the room.

"These are exceptional circumstances, Batman…I will be back in half an hour. That is all I can do…"

"That will be more than enough…"

The Joker watched as Rudolph exited the room followed by the other three guards. He blew some of the green curls away from his face, twitched his nose and leaned over closer to the Dark Detective in front of him. "So…. you interrupt my exercise, prevent me from answering nature's call and punish me by having to stare at your unhappy, unsmiling face…. this must be important for such a VIP treatment. So what is it? You came to tell me you lost your virginity to a gerbil, didn't you?"

Joker laughed loudly while the Dark detective pulled two evidence bags containing the Joker playing cards and tossed them on the table toward the grinning Jester.

"I need you to tell me what this is."

"Ohh, we are going to play Trivial Pursuit! Nice. Beats exercising with Mr. Rudy and his three little pigs." Joker looked at the evidence bag and cocked his head to both sides. He then frowned as if in deep thought, one green eyebrow crooked high. "Hmm… this a trick question or something?" The Jester said pressing his ruby lips until his smile was reduced to only a thin red line.

Batman just stared at the Clown silently, fury burning behind his pupils as he wanted to extract the information from Joker by force. "Just answer."

"Ok, well…I take _Why Bats Hate Clowns _for five hundred dollars." The Jester giggled childishly.

"Stop playing, Joker" Batman growled clenching his fists under the table.

"Is that your final answer?" The Clown Prince piped erupting in a hysterical laugher. "Can I use a lifeline?"

"JOKER!" Batman said again slamming his fists on the table. The Jester leaned back on the chair.

"I suppose not. You're not fun Bats, but I'll play along. Well, unless I'm hallucinating and let me tell you, I have been doing a lot of that lately since Dr. Arkham started me on that new medicine…those look like a pair of my throwing Joker playing cards. And the stain, hmmm…looks like silver nitrate." The Clown giggled softly while his smile widened. He then looked anxiously under the desk. "Did I win a prize? Where is it, under your cape?"

"This is not a contest."

Joker's green eyes peeked from just above the table's rim "No, this is torture. Why do you come here and bother me with this, Batsy? Have you broken your detective kit and now need the Clown to do the work for you? I tried to be you once and I didn't like it so please, don't make me think like you again, OK?"

"That is not what I wanted you to tell me."

The Jester straightened on the chair and shook his head. "Then I don't understand what it is you want from me."

"You used this to murder Garrison and Dark Tom and they have a smiling clown pointing at a cryptic numeric message on the bottom of the card, and I want you to tell me the meaning of that message." The Knight interlaced his gloved hands on the table. "I told you I was going to figure out your game and this is my first clue. I'm giving you one last chance to confess the rest…"

The Joker laughed loudly. "You must be fucking kidding me. You think I'm really gonna tell you…"

"I know you are playing some type of game here, and you should just tell me what it is before I find out some other way."

"Oh no, no. You're asking me to help you solve this case because you have no clue as to what is going on and to tell you the truth, I like to see you like that. What, you forgot your calculator in the bat mobile or something? Ha! If you have numbers…then play with them, isn't that what you do with numbers… like one pair, over one bed equals one baby? "Joker started to laugh gleefully. "You're definitely losing your mind… or running out of clues."

"You're the one out of your mind, Joker, but you're not stupid. I know the deal you got with Hampton and the moment the Governor gets a word about this your privileges become history unless you cooperate. Your choice."

Joker frowned. "Are you threatening me, Bats, because I don't take it kindly when people threaten me." The Jester sniffled and shook his head backwards trying to get the green curls out of his eyes. "It makes me lose my cool."

"I don't give a damn if you don't like to be threatened. You just murdered two men in the most horrendous way…"

"…While I am straitjacketed and locked up in the deepest corners of this Asylum. DUH! Explain that to Gordy." The Clown Prince retorted angrily. "Has it ever occurred to you, that maybe…just maybe…I'm telling you the truth and don't know anything about this case?" The frown suddenly turned into a smile. "On the other hand, maybe I planned everything from the beginning, because I'm so fucking bored in this place since you and your Commissioner of Pigs isolated me. Yeah. Maybe I just want to have my fun, via remote control. Cybercrime…Joker time...or whatever you wanna call it."

"Is that a confession?"

"No, but I think I'm having a hallucination," Joker leaned over the table and looked over the Detective's shoulder. "Say, is that Barbara Striesand behind you? God, I think she is trying to ask you out on a date or something. WOW! Whatever Arkham gave me, it's strong!"

"You worked with Garrison and Tom Clancy."

"So…? You kicked their butts a hundred times before and I'm not going around saying that you killed them because you had something against them, do I? And I would say yes to Barbara, because that might be your only chance of getting laid."

"Don't change the subject, Joker."

"Then stop blaming me for everything." The Clown gritted his teeth. Joker was starting to lose his temper. "It's not nice."

"You had a good reason to kill them…"

"I know…but somebody beat me at it, OK? Would you believe it…? I take a sabbatical and what happens? You get another clown with the same murderous tastes as mine. Isn't life a bitch, Bats?"

"You are lying."

"Sez who…Dumbwing…? I told you to exchange that kid for a toaster." The Jester retorted acidly.

Batman looked at the smiling Jester with great intensity, while the Joker in front of him didn't even blink. The Dark Detective took a deep breath. "And how did you know that the stains were silver nitrate?"

"I'm crazy but not dumb. I'm good with chemicals and I can tell nitrate when I see it, and you must have plenty in that detective kit of yours. Only detail is that to cause this color change on the paint you have to have used a lot of it, as in a pool of the stuff. Did you drop the cards on a vat of the stuff by accident?"

"SHUT UP! Just answer my questions." Batman roared.

"Or what? You can tell me that I'm totally out of my mind; a total whack job, but I can't tell you that you suck as a detective because you made the stupid mistake of spilling silver nitrate all over evidence? That is double stan-" The Joker started to say when he was interrupted by a jab to the left side of the face with enough force as to knock him off his chair. The Jester fell beside the table in a jumble of chains. On the floor he started to laugh. "The unmovable Bat-Detective is losing his temper over his detective pride. It must be embarrassing to have made such a stupid mistake, eh? Wonder if Gordon knows… You would've made Jack very happy if he still lived, you know? Let your anger eat away what little sanity you have left, chum…and then you will be just like me. Another nut in the tree of life. Then you will understand me…"

"Talking to you doesn't make me happy, Joker. You have the incredible ability of annoying the hell out of me with your antics and your insinuations." Batman said retreating slowly to his chair.

"Good that I could be of service, mon capitain." chirped the Clown Prince kneeling on the floor trying to get up with great effort. His left leg did not seem as strong as the other, forcing him to do all the moving around in basically one leg. With a painful snort he jumped up into the chair again and made a raspberry. "And you're still a lousy detective."

"Where's Blip?"

"Who? The nerd? Bahamas I hope. He has all my cash and if I get my hands on that fat neck of his—."

"I don't believe you. You two are very close, and for some reason I don't know, you're protecting him."

"And why would I do something like that?" Joker responded with a smile. "He couldn't even activate missiles for my Christmas Fireworks Spectacular. He's an incompetent nerd."

"Thus saving your stage. Aren't you thankful to Michael for caring so much? He left you with an audience."

"Your point?" Joker said with clear disdain in his tone. "Why don't we stop talking about him and start talking about me? I'm the one who should be on the spotlight; everybody else is disposable, like tissue paper after being used. Even the fat nerd."

"All right. Since when have you started liking origami?"

"What?" Joker said lifting a quizzical eyebrow. "Now you're asking me about my hobbies? Don't tell me you're writing my biography? Don't forget to mention my handsome smile…"

"You exchanged information with the government for origami paper."

"So? You have a bat fetish and like to keep young boys very…very close. You have your pastimes, I have mine. And believe me, I asked Humpty Dumpty to get me out of here but he said no can do. I even asked him to kill you and the dumbass refused. He couldn't even kill the fucking cook. I had to get something out of the deal so I improvised. You know me. I'm so needy." Joker smiled sinisterly and licked the corner of his mouth where blood had started to trickle down.

"Why origami paper?"

"Why is your costume black?"

"That has nothing--."

"Answer the question Bats. Why not blue, pink, fuchsia…why black?" There was a long silence and Joker smiled gleefully. "Just because, OK? Don't need a rocket scientist to figure that one out. Now…if you don't need anything else, I really need to take a leak."

Rudy entered the room accompanied by other two officers. The Joker smiled sardonically at the security officers. "Oh, here comes my ride." The jester said fidgeting on the chair.

"Did you find them?" Batman asked the officers solemnly.

"No, there aren't any origami animals or origami paper left in his cell." Rudy responded.

"You searched his whole cell?"

"Twice." Rudolf answered with a defeated look in his face.

"My cell?" Joker protested looking angrily at the Detective. "You sent people to search my cell?"

"Why I am not surprised?" Batman said, placing his hands flatly over the table while he stared at the Joker intensely.

"Hey, who gave you the right to get your big ears in my cell?"

"The law allows me to search your cell when I suspect you are hiding evidence. What did you do with the origami animals you made?"

"Oh, that…Whew! I thought you were trying to find the body I hid under the bed. Whoops!" Joker started to laugh wildly. Batman looked at the security officers.

"There is no body under the bed either." Rudy answered as he raised a quizzical eyebrow at the laughing Jester.

"What do you mean there is no body…? I pushed it right under the bed the other day. It was huge." The Jester said as he rose to meet the security guard at eye level as his laughter started to subside. He exchanged amused looks between Rudy and the Detective. "It was the biggest fucking cockroach I've ever seen. That thing tried to eat me in the middle of the night."

"Joker…the origami pets. WHAT. DID YOU. DO. WITH THEM?" The Knight pressed on. His voice escalated a few octaves.

"What I always do…killed them all. Who knew that operating a paper zoo could be that expensive? With the economy as it is, had to channel my budget towards other more…productive businesses. So I invested in coffins. Death is a very profitable business in this city with all those murdering psychos around. Ask me about it."

"You used them to communicate with Garibaldi, didn't you?" Batman said in a low accusingly growl.

"Who? No, I was hungry, so I made a bonfire and roasted them. Hmmm, beats the plastic chicken they feed here. That cook is so dead…"

"I don't know what game you are playing Joker, but I'm going to figure it out, in the meantime, I will be watching you…very closely."

"If you wanna be that close to me…I'm sure I can make some space in my cell for you…as long as you don't snore…" Joker started laughing and Batman put the evidence bags away. Three guards entered, unhooked the chains fixing the Clown Prince in his chair and started to carry him away. "I can be as cuddly as a Teddy bear when I want to…but most of the time I'm just kinky."

Batman left the room hastily. This clown was responsible for the deaths of both Garrison and Tom Clancy; he knew it deep in his guts, he just couldn't prove it. For a brief moment, he thought that this theory was the most farfetched thing he had come up with; after all, Joker was right. The Jester was locked up in the Asylum, incommunicado, at least in any tangible way…so how could he be doing it?

If he had an idea of who was working for him outside the Asylum, he would have a solid lead to follow, but right now, the only person Batman knew could still work with the Clown was Michael Garibaldi and the hacker had proven to be more difficult to find than a needle on a haystack. Even now he wasn't completely sure Blip was working with the Clown at all. This case was starting to look as difficult to solve as the one before, when Joker was sane, but this time he was not going to underestimate the resourcefulness of his enemies, this was not going to become another fiasco.


	4. Strange Alliances

**Author's note:** Here's another chapter of the Jester sequel. Hope you like it. Feel free to send me your feedback on what you think of the story. It's that feedback that keep us authors in our toes. Enjoy the chapter

DISCLAIMER 1: Batman and related characters belong solely to DC COMICS

DISCLAIMER 2: Some MATURE LANGUAGE and SITUATIONS will be used. Reader's discretion is adviced

BETA: Another round of applause goes to the great KICHI. Thanks, friend

**Chapter 4: Strange Alliances**

Michael was waiting in line at the post office when he noticed the stack of bound FBI most wanted list by the Express Mail table with his picture on the top for everyone to see. Michael started to fidget on the line. If anybody saw that picture and recognized him, he was in deep trouble. Then he remembered he didn't look anything like the picture in the book anymore. He had dyed his blond hair black, grown a goatee and his glasses were thick and squared-rimmed, but still. He would feel better if that picture was not there at all.

Trying to not look suspicious, he walked over to the stand, grabbed the list and sifted through the pages in a disinterested manner, while he still held to the page with his picture. He then discretely detached the page and folded it small enough to fit in his pocket. Letting out a sigh, he picked his backpack and returned calmly to the line trying not to bring any attention to himself.

His turn in line arrived, and Blip gingerly reached the counter where he presented his pick up receipt. The counter clerk, a petite dark haired Hispanic woman smiled and Blip smiled back. She disappeared to the back and brought two small boxes with her, one of them with a large Intel sign on the side.

"Please sign over the dotted line Mr. Kirkpatrick," the clerk said pointing at the bottom of the receipt. Michael signed for the boxes, and after putting both boxes away in his backpack, he left the Post office as quickly as he could. He hastily crossed the street looking around nervously and walking in long fast strides. Blip reached the corner of McGuiness and Lee and made a sharp right turn, entering a narrow alley checking regularly if he was being followed. He arrived to his destination; a dilapidated three-story brick building behind the Delhi Pawn Shop. Blip had helped the owner of the shop, a Hindu by the name of Mohan, set a new security system on the building hence reducing the robberies and assaults to the store and in exchange, Mohan had habilitated a room upstairs for Michael to live in at a very low price. It was a mutually profitable deal that for now had worked well. Michael took the stairs to the upper floor and opened the door disappearing quickly inside the apartment.

"You finally decide to show up your face around this place." A voice from the bedroom said, startling Blip causing him to drop his backpack and turn around nervously as his heart pounded loudly in his throat. He pulled his .44 and walked slowly to the direction of the voice leaving his jacket behind over the kitchen counter. The voice spoke again. "You got some nerve showing your pointy ears in this town stranger…"

"Pointy ears…?" Michael said entering the bedroom and around and curiously looking at the bundle of cables and hardware covering most of the floor and a large desk by the boarded window in the right corner of the room. "Who are you talking to…?"

Blip moved over the monitor on a wood desk where a smaller version of Joker stood in full cowboy clothing, boots and spurs besides a dark figure tied up with a noose around his neck that stood precariously on a wine barrel. The Joker spoke to the dark figure. "Any last words for the history books, Bat-freak?"

"Hey, you listening? What are you doing?" Blip asked putting away his gun.

The screen Jester didn't respond, but kept talking to the silent figure over the barrel. "What, cat got your tongue…? Oops…forgot. I killed your cat…" The miniature Clown Prince of Crime played with the head of a dead black cat suspended from a nylon string as he busted into a maniacal laughter. He tossed the dead cat's head beside him and shook the barrel under the dark bat-like figure that did his best not to fall. The Jester's laughter became even more hysterical.

"Didn't you hear me…? What do you think your doing?" Michael started tapping on the keys of the keyboard.

"Ow…ow, ow…hey, stop that! OUCH! I said…OW!...STOP THAT!" protested the miniature Joker cowering in a corner of the screen.

"What's this?" Michael said angrily to the Joker on the screen.

"Can you speak a little bit louder, buddy? Can't hear you." Blip tapped the keys a few more times and harder. "Hey! Didn't you hear me? STOP!! That hurts! You better check the connections out there because I can see you but I can't hear a word you say."

"Really? How convenient…maybe you don't want to hear." Michael said as he checked the connections on the back of the laptop and found a loose cable that he promptly tightened up… "Well, what do you know? You were right, there was a loose connection."

"That's better…a lot better and yes, I'm always right. You on the other hand, are an idiot who left so quickly this morning that I am surprised you didn't loosen anything more…vital…like your head." The Jester laughed. "Want me to fix that?"

Michael couldn't help to smile a little at the small clown. "Hey genius…who's the one standing on the barrel?"

The screen Jester looked up at the darkened figure with the noose around his neck. "That would my nemesis, the Bat-Freak."

"And where does he come from? I don't remember programming him in there."

"You didn't…so I fixed it for you, 'cause I know it just slipped your mind."

"You programmed him yourself? No way." Michael couldn't hide his surprise. This Joker on the screen was his creation…a program running on a variant of the new chip he and the real Clown had stolen from Wayne Tech last year, and this program was talking about creating another subroutine within the program by himself? That was nonsense.

"Programming is not that hard once you get a hold of it, you know? If you can do it, I can do it."

"I'm human. That is what I do. I make programs. You…You just can't." He felt uncomfortable interacting so casually with a mathematical algorithm, "I didn't give you that ability."

"I'm not altering my 'programming', Blip…I'm enhancing it." The virtual Jester said adding an air of grandeur around his words. "It's called upgrading."

"With him…? You still shouldn't have been able to upgrade without interfacing with an operator, like me."

"And why would I want to have intercourse with you? You're not my type, kid." The small Joker looked at the man with the noose again and giggled. Blip just stared at the small Clown. The virtual Joker looked back at the hacker and laughed softly. His grin extended wide. "All work, work, work and no fun, Blip. What if I wanted to have some fun with the Bat? And no…I'm not inter--, whatever you said with him either. I don't do animal sex."

"Interface…not intercourse." Blip tried to explain but stopped and sighed. "And he's not relevant to the program…"

"WRONG! What about keeping me entertained?" The jester in the screen shrugged and kicked the barrel leaving the Bat to hang from the neck. He pushed around the jerking body playfully in circles around him until the figure stopped moving. "OK, I'll kill the program. It stopped being got the message from Big J?"

This small clown indeed looked and behaved like the real thing. Blip shook his head, leaned over to the side and grabbed his backpack extracting one of the small boxes. "I just…just got the shipment. Why are you so impatient?"

"Because he had wonderful ideas for upgrading this program I inhabit…I'm tired of just sitting here in the background doing nothing while you guys have all the fun. Maybe I can do, you know…some real fun."

"That is what you do, stay in the background, because you're a computer program…" Michael said opening the box and carefully extracting origami figures from it.

"I'm the Joker…at least a piece of the Joker's brain. And like the real man…I need some freedom to do what I like most…spreading chaos and destruction in Gotham city. Why would you have programmed me that way if you didn't want me to behave this way?"

"Just limit yourself to do what you were programmed to do…find a way to get him out of the asylum."

Blip heard the small Joker snort angrily. "I am not just a number-cruncher, Blip. I have needs, and my primary need now is to have fun."

"Didn't you have enough fun already? I opened you a connection to the net, there is a lot of stuff out there to have fun with."

"I prefer to call it research. What you _wet ware_ find entertaining, might not agree with what is entertaining for me. It's a matter of taste and my tastes are kind of …deadly. You can't kill anybody over the net…yet. At least not literally, but I'm working on it."

"Wet ware? That's not very nice and if you're trying to have me arrange somebody's death you can forget about that. " Blip stated as he started undoing the origami animals and laying the paper sheets flat on the desk. "I'm trying to stay clear of danger. The least we need now is to have the pigs or the Bat on our ass."

"Chicken," The Clown protested. "If it bothers you, kill it. That is my motto. Just ask Garrison and Dark T. They know all about it."

"You didn't read the news? They were murdered two days ago."

The virtual Joker chuckled. "I know…and they had it coming. You can't play with fire and not get scorched, especially when dealing with me."

"You never dealt with them," Blip stated.

"Hmm, that's right…I must be having one of those phantom memories of my past again." The virtual Jester laughed. "Oh well, they served their purpose and they were no longer fun to play with so a Clown dropped the curtain on their act."

"What the hell are you talking about? You didn't have anything to do with those murders, right?"

"Come on, Blip. I'm just a gigabyte in a tiny motherboard in a tiny room of a filthy apartment in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't harm a fly…unless was a virtual fly of course. Maybe I should make one of those so I can kill it." The Jester laughed happily.

Michael snorted. "Maybe if it's all that useless to you, I should interrupt your net access."

"I will never forgive you if you do. As limited as it is, is my only connection to your world. And what a strange world you live in, Blip. Look at you, so much potential and hiding under a rock like a newt, just because of an overgrown mouse in the neighborhood."

"Hey, the mouse is the Batman and you should treat me with respect. I created you."

The Joker in the screen frowned. "Yeah…right. You are God. Well, I'm a pragmatic atheist so don't expect me to build you a shrine. I'm just saying that wet ware can be really weird. Humans are full of irrational fears, constantly finding ways of becoming someone else entirely, and do things they would never do in real life for reasons I still haven't figure out."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that I think your species are among the most unusual creatures I've met, right beside the egg-laying mammals. Why would a mammal want to lay an egg," the Jester grimaced and held his abdomen painfully. "That has to hurt like hell. Talking about weird and unusual people, I need your help."

"No you don't."

"Hey, stop me if you've heard this one before…" The jester let out a cackle. "You scratch my back I scratch yours…"

"You don't have a back. You. Are. A. Program. A piece of software…"

"And you, Mr. Four Eyes are a piece of shitware…There, you like it when I call you names?" The virtual Joker glared at the hacker through the monitor.

"Oh…I'm so unplugging you from the wall…" Michael warned. "I can't believe I'm arguing with a program…."

. The Jester sighed "I can't believe I'm arguing with one of the most brilliant hackers in this town." Joker's clothes faded into a hospital jumpsuit and his mouth was covered with a mask. He suddenly started to sound like Hannibal Lecter, speaking in a low silky voice. "Quid pro Quo, Clarice…I get you your boss, you give me some fun."

Blip couldn't believe was he was hearing. "I said I'm not murdering anybody for you."

"Leave the murder department to me, Blip…I'm the artist. I just need you to upload me to a different system." The virtual Jester said with a complacent smile behind his mask. "Oh, and I need you to check some deliveries for me."

"This framework you're working from is one of the most advanced in existence…I can't just transfer you anywhere you want. You will not be able to thrive on any other environment."

"No silly…I don't want to leave this environment. I just need to make a visit to a friend…with your help that is…" The Joker's cowboy clothes faded away to a purple tuxedo over a green vest and a yellow shirt. "I can do a temporary transfer if I have access to the rest of the host network and make it work for me. Can't stay long, but it'll have to do for a little while."

"That would require another program, different algorithms, lengthy equations…I don't have time for that now. Joker is expecting me to work out a way for him to get out from the Asylum as soon as possible."

"Got you covered Einstein. I already did the hard work for you. Even have a plan to get Big J out of the hole. You just need to scratch my virtual back. Remember?" The virtual Joker said dancing slowly where he stood. "You…designed another program?" Blip said trying to make sense of the Jester's words as the tiny Clown nodded. Since when did this piece of software become a programmer? "And what deliveries are you talking about? I already picked up the processor you asked me order."

"Good, but I was referring to a few boxes I had delivered to one of our warehouses."

"What? You ordered something else without letting me know? Joker, if any of those deliveries gets tracked back to me, I'm going to be fucked."

"Don't worry, I had it all figured out, you chicken." The Jester said grinning malevolently. "I have friends in the post office, remember? You had left already and they were just too large to deliver here, anyways. You are out of the noose. "

"Large? What is it? And who received the shipment?"

"Half the man I could find…you ask too many questions, Blip." Joker protested.

"And you babble a lot. Does…you know, does the Boss know about this shipment and the other things you've been doing?"

"What do you think?" The Clown said cocking his head tenderly and folding his arms over his chest. "This plan is pure Joker inspiration, boy. A masterpiece. What you think I've been talking to him about all this time?"

Blip sighed. As outrageous as it sounded, he was bargaining with a software program…and he was losing. He hoped that he could get the Joker out of the Asylum soon, the boss will know what to do with this piece of software he had helped create and Michael prayed that he opted for deletion, because if he was to handle two Jokers at once he was definitely going to go mad.

"This is going to be interesting…"

"Very…I haven't shown you what I'm capable of doing yet. Now…get those origami pets through the scanner and let me take a look. There has to be something there I could use…"

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

The night breeze caressed his face under the cowl. The sky above was covered in thick clouds that covered stars and the thin remnant of the lunar disk. This was the perfect night to move through the darkness of the night for answers and he knew this was the best place to start searching for answers. Batman peered over the rail into the pavement below. From his vantage point he could see the entrance to the Iceberg Lounge, the Penguin's nightclub. Like every night the place was filled with the best and the worst of Gotham in search of entertainment and profitable income respectively. Oswald Cobblepot had become an expert on supplying both to the citizens of this city. Cobblepot's success depended what he knew and whom he knew. Information for Penguin was power.

The Detective's communicator in his cowl beeped.

"Yes Commissioner?" Batman responded recognizing the signature in the call.

"Just wanted to update you that there has been a massive escape from Black Gate, so your night might be busier than usual."

The Knight sighed. The last thing he needed was to worry about a group of low class criminals wrecking havoc in the city when he had bigger fish to catch. "Any leads on who organized the escape?"

"We're still investigating, but it involved somebody hacking the security and surveillance system. Thought you wanted to know."

"Garibaldi," Batman responded making a pause to look at a group of three large black Buick's that parked on the Lounge's VIP parking. "How many escaped?"

"Originally about twenty-two prisoners, but most were returned afterwards. "There are still eight inmates unaccounted for and two familiar faces among them. Thomas Riverside and Elliott Cassidy. I have Lancaster examining the network in Black gate to see if we can track the hacker, but how and why?"

"Both have worked with Joker in the past, especially Elliott."

"All this to get one man out? What about Neo?"

"He's a Leopard. I doubt that he will want to join ranks with the man who killed half of his gang. He probably skipped back to Brenton, but Elliott might try to get back with Joker and Garibaldi. The Clown just pays too well to be ignored and Elliott might need large amounts of easy cash."

"I'm sending their mug shots everywhere in the city. I don't want Joker reorganizing his boys club."

"I'll be on alert."

"Do you have any leads?"

"Found a reference name in both Garrison and Clancy's financial reports. Don't know yet if it's relevant, but I'm about to find out from a little bird." Batman said retrieving a grappler from his utility belt. "I will update you later, Jim."

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was not often that the Lounge received such important customers, but for Oswald Cobblepot it was music to his ears. The Mayor, always worried about having enough votes to guarantee the next election and keep his image of clean politician stayed away from been seen in associations with people like the Penguin but unfortunately for Stratton, his rebellious son found the Night Club the best way to spend the night with friends and booze. The Penguin knew the young man to be one of his best clients and one he needed to keep away from the curious cameras of the press, and he offered him his best table and security.

"Good evening Mr. Stratton. Good to see you again." Cobblepot squeaked with a polite bow at the sight of the young man who was accompanied by two beautiful women in revealing evening gowns.

"Enough pleasantries, Ozzie." The Mayor's son spat back with a slight slur in his speech and strong liquor in his breath. "Is my table ready?"

"And waiting. James!" The Penguin called to his bouncer while he cleaned his monocle with a linen handkerchief. He hated to be addressed by his first name from strangers, but the Mayor's son was a profitable client. "Please take Mr. Stratton and his beautiful friends to their table. Make sure nobody bothers them, OK James?"

The bouncer nodded silently and motioned the group to follow him over to the Constellation ballroom, the most exclusive area of the nightclub. From the multitude, Cobblepot noticed one of his security guards all ruffled up and covering the left side of his face that looked red and swollen.

"And what happened to you…? Why are you not at you post?" Cobblepot protested approaching the guard. The security guard leaned over to the Penguin's ear and explained what had transpired. The news didn't surprise him that much. "Where is he now?"

"In your office, Boss."

"Did anybody see him?"

"I don't think so, but someone might have heard him when he was…talking to me." The security guard pointed a finger to his swollen face. Penguin could now see his associate's left eye completely swollen shut.

"All right." Cobblepot replied adjusting the white vest of his tuxedo over his large figure. "I don't want to be interrupted unless is an emergency. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." The man answered back heading towards the bar where he asked for a bag with some ice. In the meantime Cobblepot slipped fast to the back of the building where he kept his office on the second floor. He opened the door to his office and after confirming that no one was around, entered and locked the office behind him. Inside the office, by the large window that overlooked the street, Penguin saw the tall caped figure waiting for him.

"Do you always have to beat up my men when you visit me? If you keep scaring my staff, no one will want to work for me."

"They'll get over it." The figure responded without any emotion on his voice. "So will you."

"And what do you want, Batman? I don't think you came for the music…"

"What I always want Oswald. Information." The figure turned around to finally face the Penguin who had gone to a mini bar by the corner and poured some brandy in a glass. "You knew Garrison and Clancy didn't you?"

"Who didn't, but yeah, they were regulars here." Penguin responded taking a sip of the brandy.

"And you probably hosted some of their meetings…"

"The Iceberg Lounge is available for rent to anyone who can pay. Nothing illegal there." Cobblepot responded sitting on the large executive chair behind his desk. "Mind if I smoke?"

"Suit yourself." Batman quipped back advancing towards the Penguin. Cobblepot put a cigarette on the tip of his stiletto holder, lighted it then took a deep puff. Batman advanced towards the Penguin, his boots hardly even making a noise against the Italian tile that covered the floor. "Did you ever hear of NippoX or about someone named Francis Kirkpatrick?"

"Not, but I spoke to Francis Ford Coppola once…does that count?"

"Don't joke with me, Oswald."

Penguin snorted uncomfortably. "You're definitely a bore. No, I have not heard of this person."

"Mr. Kirkpatrick has a taste for powerful friends, Oswald. Among them, Garrison and Clancy. Might even be involved with the Yakuza and you don't want the Japanese Mafia in your turf."

Penguin let out a thick cloud of smoke and smiled, showing stained crooked teeth. "Neither do you, it seems. Me? I go with the flow. That is the making of a brilliant businessman, but I will tell you one thing, because I like you. I did hear Clancy once brag about his contacts with the Yakuza. Said that he was preparing to get what was rightfully his and he would reclaim his kingdom from Thermoupoulos' remains. But he said that this time, YOU have met your match." Cobblepot shrugged and took off his monocle that he carefully cleaned it with a gray handkerchief he pulled from his tux. "But then, Clancy was too drunk to say anything meaningful that night."

"Did Clancy say this or are you embellishing the information, Penguin?" Batman answered dryly clenching his fists under his cape.

"Honest to God, that's what he said and then my ears perked up. After all, I wouldn't be still in business if you hadn't helped me with Intergang and when they start talking about my friends like that…"

"Stop brownnosing. I'm not your friend, Penguin. You still have your nightclub because you're useful, nothing more. Did Clancy say anything else?"

"I dunno…how much is the info worth to you…? Oswald answered taking a sip of his drink and replacing his monocle.

"Oswald, don't push your luck with me. I need a name."

"And I need a favor so we are even. Do we have a deal?" Cobblepot took a deep drag of his cigar. "Offer and demand."

"What do you want?" Batman growled.

"I need you and your cop friends to give me some leeway with my business, Bats. The city is asphyxiating me and I cannot expand my business if they don't give me some breathing space. Economy is not that good and I need to diversify."

"Diversify? Everybody knows that what you do here is not…just serve brandy."

"Those are rumors. I have turned a new leaf and now—"

Batman lunged at the Penguin and lifted the man from the chair and forced him against the window. Cobblepot looked over his shoulder and noted the dark alley underneath him.

"They're not rumors. You want me to show you the file I have on your other…activities? The fact that I have not sent you to prison doesn't mean I'm not looking at you closely. Now you tell me what else Clancy said or the GCPD will have a look at my file on your other operations."

"OK, OK…. now that you put it so…nicely. Would you just unhand me? This is an expensive cashmere tux if you don't mind." Penguin protested nervously.

"I want a name Oswald." The Batman pushed Cobblepot harder against the glass. Penguin heard the window protest the Detective's push. If he didn't think fast, his next stop would be the ground below.

"Clancy mentioned a name. Kunshu Dokeshi." Cobblepot responded forcing a smile. "He and Clancy were apparently very close friends. Clancy said that the Nippon had an obsession with the latest technology in the market, and needed some equipment delivered before he could make a move into the city. Clancy was trying to get him some prototypes from a laboratory in Europe. Something about a neural circuit or something like that. He said it was a cheap price to pay for control of a bat-free town. Could that be your Yakuza man?"

"Do you know which laboratory in Europe?" Batman asked finally releasing the pressure on the Penguin. Cobblepot sighed in relief. "Do you know what they wanted the equipment for?"

"No. I thought Dark T was just bragging, trying to sound tough after what Joker did to him and his boys so I didn't inquire anymore. But the way he said it seemed to be referring to a French speaking country."

"That is half of Europe." Batman let go of the Penguin and retreated. "You know I will be confirming this information, right Oswald? And if you lied to me…"

"You'll be back…I know." Cobblepot responded fixing his tuxedo. "It's all true, so please don't show up again. You just…stay away from here. It's not good for the business."

Batman left hurriedly out of the Penguin's building, leaving Cobblepot shaking in his office. He knew that the Bat had a very good idea of what he did behind the curtain of his club, but he never imagined that he would have that much evidence against him as to present a solid case to the city's DA. He needed to move his pieces fast and he knew whom to ask. Time to have his friends return the favor.

He was going to call some help…but away from here, so he pulled his cell phone and after removing the SIM card, tossed the phone into the trash bin. No excuse for being too cautions since he knew how the Bat operated, and the Detective had probably wired the entire office by now.


	5. Stop Me If You Have Heard This One

_**Author's note:** First, happy St. Valentines to all. Let your lives be filled with love and good friends. As promised, I'm trying to post more often, so here is another installment for your entertainment. Please enjoy and feel free to drop me a note or a review. We writers live on your feedbacks and enjoy it very much when we can hear our reader's opinions. Please let your voice be heard._

_Thanks to all of you following my stories, this is really appreciated. It really means a lot to me. Love ya'll!!!_

_Now to the legal stuff..._

_DISCLAIMER 1: Batman and related characters belong to DC COMICS_

_DISCLAIMER 2: There will be instances of MATURE LANGUAGE and SITUATIONS so read judiciously_

_BETA: Thanks a million to KICHI for her wonderful help beta-ing this project. You're the best!_

**Chapter 5: STOP ME IF YOU HAVE HEARD THIS ONE...**

Dick stopped for a moment at the flower shop. Call him a romantic, but he could speak a lot better when he had something to spark the conversation. He had picked up a bouquet of red roses, pink carnations and beautiful greenery to complete the arrangement, and he was carrying the flowers the way a master chef would carry his most incredible culinary creation. Nightwing arrived at the apartment building at ten to five. He stood there for a moment reviewing his little speech in his head and finally knocked on the door twice.

"One moment please." A voice came from inside. Dick shifted the arrangement between hands as if trying to figure out in which hand will cause the most impact. He smiled at his own silliness. The door opened, he extended his floral arrangement in front of him and he saw Black Canary standing at the opened door. He didn't know what to say.

"Hey, hi there Dick. You….OK?" Diana said waving a hand in front of Nightwing's eyes. He blinked twice and smiled.

"Oh, hey, Dana. How you been doing?" He finally said finally setting his flower arrangement aside. "Is Barbara--?"

"Who is it, D?" Oracle asked from inside the apartment as she wheeled herself to the door. She smiled wide in pure joy at seeing him standing there at the door. Dick smiled back and looked down at his flowers.

"Ok, I see…you didn't come to see me, did you?" Dana protested mockingly.

"I…well, I--." Dick started to say.

"Don't sweat it, Dick. I was just joking. I will leave you two to yourselves now. Ollie must be wondering what took me so long. Told him this was going to be a short visit. Yeah, right. See you, love birds…ehem…I mean…guys." Dana left the apartment hastily as Barbara pushed herself closer to the entrance. Dick presented Barbara with the flowers.

"You sure I'm not interrupting anything important?" Dick asked carefully.

"No. We were remembering old times." She sniffed the roses and let him in. "These are beautiful, Dick. Thank you."

"For my favorite…love bird." Dick responded with a mischievous grin as he took his jacket off and hung it on a hook by the entrance.

"Flirt." Nightwing closed the door behind him. "So how have you being doing?"

"Taking it easy…I needed the time off. Beat Bruce at tennis, and was overwhelmed by Tim the checkers champion." Dick raised his hands and mimicked the sound of a roaring crowd. "He's really good…"

Barbara gave away a hint of a smile. "And how is Tim?"

"On crutches, but getting better every day. I think he's going to be back in training within a few weeks."

"That's terrific…and Bruce?"

"What can I tell you…same old Bruce, working the nightshifts." Barbara laughed softly and that made him smile. God, she looked so beautiful when she smiled. "I know I should have called, but…do you have plans for tonight?" Dick walked over the large chair in the living room.

"Black Canary visited me as I was doing some research on the computer."

"Cool, maybe you can take a little time off…what I mean is that I will be leaving soon back to Blüdhaven and I wanted…you know…I wanted to go and have dinner with you…but if you already ate…we can do a movie…or whatever. If you're busy, I'll understand. Damn…I should have called you." Dick stopped talking, realizing he was not making much sense. Barbara remained silent looking at him "I'm sounding like a retard. What I mean to say is that I want to spend some time with you, maybe do something together."

She was doing something for Batman and the investigation of Garrison and Tom Clancy's murders, but the truth was that she was in no rush. She tried to smile and say that she really wanted to go out with Dick, but the ghost of guilt visited her again. When she tried to have some fun the last time it almost cost her life at the hands of the Joker, but now that the Clown was behind bars. What was there to be afraid of?

"Would you really understand?" She finally said timidly, pushing herself closer to him and holding him by his hand. "You trusted in me when I thought myself responsible for the attack on the Arena, you've been always there when I needed you most, and still there is this gap between us…as large as the Grand Canyon…" Barbara caressed his hand tenderly against her cheek.

"Hey, sweetie…it's OK. We have our responsibilities. We are Gotham's protectors." Dick said tenderly when all the lights in the apartment flickered and dimmed for a moment returning completely to normalcy within a few moments. "What was that…?"

"Power surge…I don't get many but thank God the computers are all surge protected." Barbara said brushing away part of her red mane from her face. "Dick, I know we are Gotham's protectors, but we are also human…I learned that when Joker almost killed me a second time at the Arena. Life is too short, and we have to make the most of it. I hate to admit that the Clown taught me something valuable, but the truth is that I realized how much I need my life back. I would love to be able to be with you…not one night but every night."

"Joker is in the asylum."

"And there he should stay while I should learn to let go…Look at me, trying to figure out how could have murdered Garrison and Clancy from his cell." Dick looked at her bewildered. She dropped her gaze.

"You think that too? Bruce got you involved in the case, didn't he?" Dick responded with some resentment.

"He needs help, Dick. He hasn't been able to find a plausible way for the Joker to--." Barbara stopped for a moment and closed her eyes when she realized she was talking about the Clown. Joker had consumed her entire life since he crippled her so many years ago…why couldn't she leave the monster in his cell? Words got stuck in her throat.

"Babs…you OK?" Dick asked with sincere concern at the sad expression in her eyes.

"Listen to us, Dick…talking about a case. Talking about HIM. Is that what all our lives revolve around?" Dick put a tender hand over hers. "I want to have a real life, away from these computers, away from the Asylum…away from Joker."

"Babs…"

"Dick…I would like to go out with you…I want to forget the past for one night and live the present at your side one day at a time."

He looked at her intensely. "You're sure…I mean, if you want to continue investigating that's fine. We can just order something and eat here…I just want to spend some time with you."

"Quality time, Dick. Not…." She motioned around her. "…this. This is Oracle's headquarters and I'm sure that Bruce will understand if I take some time off from the investigation. I already had dinner, but I can accept your invitation for a movie. Don't make it too late, though. Oracle has work to do..."

"Sure." Dick's eyes sparkled. "Well, now that you mention it…there is this new movie that came out…"

"The spy movie, with that English actor…what's his name?"

"Yeah…that one. Want to see it?"

"I was dying to have some time to see it…"

"Then it's a date…you ready?"

"Give me one moment to retouch my makeup and out we go. OK?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

4:37 p.m. Oswald Cobblepot hated parks. They were places where a lot of people gathered to waste their time, but there was something that Cobblepot hated more than parks. He hated people. It had been people who had mocked him since he was a child, because of his odd appearance, and it had been people who, assuming he was dumb because of the way he looked, had tried to take advantage of him. Then one day he decided to change the rules of the game and take advantage of _them_. That was the only thing they were good for. You either used them or you killed them.

He had been sitting on this bench close to an hour, waiting for his contact to arrive. He was running very late and Penguin started to feel used. Not good. He tapped the end of his black umbrella softly on the pebbled ground and started to count backwards from ten when he saw a little cardinal come to rest beside him. The red bird started to preen himself beside Oswald, as if he was sitting beside an old friend. Oswald Cobblepot liked birds. They were not as hypocritical as the humans he was forced to deal with and he could swear that birds were more intelligent than many people he knew. Then his cell phone rang startling the cardinal from where he sat on the bench's backrest.

"Cobblepot here," Oswald answered hastily as he reassured the startled bird by rubbing a stubby finger against its red-feathered face.

"You're one difficult man to find, Cobblepot." A man with a strong accent said over the speaker.

"Lord Dokeshi? We were supposed to meet—."

"I know. Important things have resurfaced that needed to be attended to so I apologize for not showing up. I'm generous enough to call you personally, Oswald, so be grateful. What can I do for you?"

"He came last night, just like you said."

"Asking for names?"

"Yes, and I told him what you told me. He didn't look too convinced, but that is the way he is."

"Yes, you did well, Oswald. The show has begun." Dokeshi giggled.

"Good to hear that you're pleased. Now about payment…"

"I'll make an automatic transfer to that account I set up for you, you greedy bird."

"No, wait," Cobblepot responded nervously running a hand through his thinning hair. "I would like to propose a deal. One that can benefit us both even better."

There was a short pause. "I'm listening."

"The Bat…the Bat has something on me. He told me, and said he will use it against me."

"The thought of going back to prison scares you, eh chicken?"

"No, well…yes, but what I would like is to keep my business, Dokeshi. ALL my businesses. I was thinking that instead of paying me for facing the Bat, you can do me a favor."

"You want me to find out how much the Bat knows about you, no?"

"You said you had contacts. Can you help me?"

"Let me see what I can do, Oswald. What you ask is not easy, but if I find anything I will take care of it for you."

"What are--?"

"Don't ask or you'll ruin the fun. You really don't want to know, but if you must…it will be funnier than Garrison's go away party. And now that we're talking business, were you able to find me that engineer I asked for?"

"Yes, I gave him your information, but he's interested in knowing what he's going to be doing before signing a contract. Said he was going to call you."

"Don't concern yourself, Oswald. I'll handle the engineer. Your only worry should be keeping the Bat focused on me. Make me feel like a superstar."

"Hmmm…alright. I understand."

"No, you don't, but that's the way it is. Now if you don't have anything else, I have things to do."

"Sure, thank you--," Cobblepot responded when he heard Dokeshi hanging up. He pressed hard on the cell phone, anger starting to fill him. No one treated him like that, but he had no choice. If the Asian had proven that he could take two of the most powerful Mafiosi that easy, he was a dangerous bird to contend with. Penguin rose from the bench and adjusted his tux. He looked around to make sure there were no cops or spies around and started to walk down the path out of the park when something hit his head knocking his top hat to the ground.

"What the heck?" Cobblepot protested when he saw a two men emerging from the bushes. One was a well-muscled tall black man accompanied by a skinnier, but taller blonde guy. Both were wearing football jerseys and they laughed as they approached him. Could they be mocking him?

"Have you seen a purple ball, chubby?" The brawny dark-skinned man asked.

Oswald looked around and saw a purple football lying in the grass a few feet away. "It was you…you hit me in the head. Aren't you going to apologize?"

"Accidents happen even in America," the blonde man with a thick, square jaw line spoke with a strong German accent. "So take it easy and tell us vhere's the ball."

Penguin bent over to pick up his hat that he dusted furiously. "Do you know who you are talking to?"

"A fat guy wearing a tux in the middle of summer?" The black man said, laughing loudly. "Do you need a ride to the Ball, prince charming? I'm sure I can get you a pumpkin and some mice…"

"I'll show you to respect me. I eat idiots like you for breakfast." Cobblepot snapped pushing a button on the umbrella that sprung a sharp knife at the tip. He thrust at the two men, swinging his umbrella like a sword. The blonde man was able to stop the umbrella in mid air and with a swift play of hands, removed the weapon from Penguin's hand leaving Oswald empty-handed and with a surprised expression in his face.

"Calm down, fatso. vee don't vant to start a fight on a beautiful day like this," the blonde man said patting the Penguin on the back when the African-American announced he had found the ball on the ground. The blonde man sheathed the knife, opened the umbrella and offered it back to Cobblepot with a polite bow. "Here…a token of our appreciation and our apologies. Please stay avay from the sun 'cause it's not good for a vinter bird like you. Bye, bye, birdie."

Penguin took his umbrella with a fierce look on his face as fire started to build deep in his chest. He had never been this insulted in his entire life. Both men turned and started to walk away when Cobblepot closed his umbrella and stumped his feet on the floor. "I better never see you again in this park or I'm gonna make you regret it…brats!" Penguin added some colorful expletives. "Next time I'll…"

The men totally ignored him as they disappeared behind the same bushes they had come from. Penguin cleaned his hat with his silk handkerchief and put it back on his head as he started to leave. One day, Cobblepot thought, one day he will regain his reputation as a dangerous and feared individual. The one he was before Intergang got his turf. For now, he just had to play his cards right, and maybe the future looked brighter ahead already.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Gordon finally turned the last page of the report and closed the folder. He looked at the digital clock on his desk: 11:42 pm. He had been reading ever since five o'clock that afternoon. It was time to gather things together and head home, tomorrow was another working day. No reason to push his overtime to the limit and suffer the consequences of lack of sleep the next day.

Heaving a deep sigh he stretched in his chair and put his glasses down by his side on the desk. That would be the fifth report he read in a row, and both his eyes and his brain needed some rest. Grabbing the crutches by the desk the Commissioner rose from the chair and limped towards the small refrigerator by the corner. Being the police officer of highest ranking in the force had his privileges. He leaned over the small appliance on top of the short bookshelf and pulled out a water bottle when a rustling sound distracted him. He turned around and noted the dark, tall caped figure by his desk. Gordon smiled under his white moustache.

"I see you decided to return to your old ways after all." Gordon said walking over with his crutches, the water bottle in his hands.

"The station is almost empty, I saw a light in your office and--."

"And came to investigate…very considerate. Thanks, but the only danger I'm in is being overwhelmed by a mountain of paper like the one on the desk."

Batman looked at the large pile of accumulated files on top of Gordon's desk and couldn't suppress a small smile. "I didn't expect you to stay this late…it's almost midnight."

"Me neither. Guess I was inspired and just read on. I must have gone over two-dozen reports and the stack doesn't get any smaller. I wonder if it's a conspiracy…" Gordon laughed softly and noted a hint of a smile on the Knight's face. "I was getting ready to go home, anyway."

The hint of a smile disappeared quickly. "I went to talk to Joker today."

Gordon snorted. "And what did the psychotic tell you…that he didn't do it?"

"Predictable…isn't he?"

"Yes…but I know that he is behind the murders…he has to be. It's his style and his toxin. His twisted humor… It has to be him." Gordon walked over to his chair and let himself down heavily on it. He motioned the Detective to take a seat in front of him, but Batman remained standing. "God...He might even be behind Black gate's escape for all we know."

"I presented him with the Joker cards, but he was not that surprised. I'm not sure he knew what I was talking about. He even dismissed the importance of the number sequence and by the time I saw him he had gotten rid of the origami animals he had made. He probably sent them to Michael."

"Did you believe him?"

"I…don't know what to believe, but his body language…maybe he really didn't know and somebody else did it. With him I've never been able to tell."

"Lancaster confirmed that the network in Black gate had been hacked and the contact is untraceable. Just like at the museum- probably with the same program. You think Garibaldi crossed the line and finally started murdering people?"

"It's a possibility, but I think that there is someone else involved in this case, someone with a lot of resources who is giving Michael instructions and might have no problem killing people. He is the man we need to find. First, I would like to find information on Drago Metzger. He is VP at NippoX."

"The company Garrison and Clancy invested in? I have Interpol looking into that. We suspected they would be involved in some type of illegal traffic from either Europe or Japan."

"There might be more than just drugs. They were moving large amount of electronic equipment in and out of the US. Add Michael's expertise and unlimited access to the latest technology and you get one happy hacker."

"You think that Michael is working with these people at NippoX too?"

"It's a working theory. There is a lot of hacking that has Blip's fingerprints all over it, including Black Gate's and the murders. They required a lot of outside help." The Knight walked slowly towards the window in Gordon's office and looked down at the lighted pavement below. "I suspect that Blip or maybe Metzger might have associated with a Yakuza, and that is the other name I want you to search: Kunshu Dokeshi."

"Doesn't sound familiar. Who got you the name…your little bird?"

"You know Cobblepot. He knows everything he could use to extort someone else. Dokeshi, and his Yakuza friends might want to make his move in the virtual world rather than the physical. For that he will need a good hacker while Garrison and Clancy might have supplied the cash."

"But why commit murders that will point to Joker's direction? It makes no sense."

"It does if you want to drive your attention away from the main players, and Garibaldi knows that Joker will welcome the attention. Perfect stool pigeon. And we shouldn't forget that Joker might be a willing participant in this scheme."

"The origami…"

"Somehow, I think he used it to communicate, but I can't prove it since all the origami mysteriously disappeared from Joker's cell. He's cleverly taking all the attention off any other suspect so they can move freely while we blame him for all the crimes."

"Sounds plausible, but Joker doesn't play well with others. You know that. Why start now?"

"I know, but my other theory suggests that Joker is a victim and that someone is framing him for reasons I still have to figure out and I can't picture him as a victim, especially with this much fun to miss out on. I'm almost sure he's part of this game. You've been able to find out anything about our technological entrepreneur?"

"We've been trying to get a hold of Mr. Kirkpatrick, but he is not responding to our calls and since he no longer lives in the US, our laws do not force him to respond. He sent a written statement through his attorney, denying knowledge of Garrison or Clancy's illegal dealings."

"From what I've heard, no one speaks to Mr. Kirkpatrick. That is where Mr. Metzger becomes useful. He's in town attending an electronic expo in downtown."

"I'll have him summoned…"

"No, let me talk to him first. If he realizes that the police are after him he might try to leave the country."

"All right, but I will keep a close watch on him. I'll see if I can stall his passport just in case we need to extend his stay. I'll call our friends overseas and see if they have any information on our suspects. I'll call you with any updates."

"Thanks, I will keep in touch," the Batman said walking towards the window. "…And you should go home and rest…you look tired." Gordon nodded and Batman exited into the night, disappearing like he always did by blending perfectly with the darkness of the city nightly landscape. Gordon looked around the collection of files still in his desk and sighed. This amount of files was not encouraging, but tomorrow will be another day to tackle that problem. Right now he was tired and needed to go home and rest. The Commissioner rose from his chair and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair putting it back on. He reached for his water bottle and his crutches when he remembered he hadn't checked his email today…

"Darn…if I leave it for tomorrow there will probably be double the emails…" he said to himself while looking at his watch and realized he could spare a few more minutes before midnight. He grunted, sat back on his chair and connected the computer with the email server of the station. There was a loud boom and the lights flickered. The computer monitor chimed and finally went off line while the lights in the office came back on. "Well, that's my cue…" said Gordon picking up his water bottle again. "Guess I'll check my email tomorrow."

The Commissioner went to turn off the unit when the monitor flickered back to life on a blank screen. He looked down around to find the connection to the power lines when a purple cursor started flashing on the center of the screen.

"HELLO." The cursor typed on its own.

"What in the hell…?" Gordon said looking attentively to the screen.

"U R PROBABLY TRYING TO TALK TO THE MONITOR, BUT THAT'LL NOT WORK…START TYPING GORDY." The computer typed quickly on the screen. Gordon looked around suspiciously. "GO AHEAD, I DON'T BITE… I JUST KILL."

The Commissioner put his hands on the keyboard and started to type. "Who are you…?"

"YOU KNOW ME. WE R GOOD FRIENDS."

"That you, Garibaldi?"

"U WANTED TO KNOW ME…TO KNOW MY PAIN…"

The Commissioner stared at the monitor screen. "Joker?"

"U R SO CLEVER, GORDY. GOOD NEWS…NO MORE PAIN FOR ME….HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY."

"How are you doing this?"

"U ASK LEONARDO HOW HE PAINTED MONA LISA, OR HOW MICHEANGELO CARVED DAVID? NO. I DO BECAUSE I WANT…AND I WANT TO SEE YOU IN PAIN…"

Gordon grabbed the phone on his desk and started dialing when he heard a familiar voice through the speaker "NO, NO, NO…I HAVE CONTROL OF PHONES, EVEN CELLULAR PHONES R WITHIN MY DOMAIN GORDY..." The Commissioner returned to the keyboard furiously.

"What do you want?" Gordon typed.

" PLAYPLAYPLAYPLAYPLAYPLAY AND PLAY SOME MORE…AM I CLEAR ENOUGH?"

"Didn't you play enough with Garrison and Clancy?" Gordon tapped away angrily.

"HAHAHA! YEAH, BUT THEY BROKE. NOW I PLAY WITH MY SPARE TOY."

"You're playing with the wrong toy, Clown." Gordon went on typing. "Once I find out how you got access to the computers at the Asylum, I'm going to make sure you don't get your ass out of your straitjacket or your cell ever."

"THAT LANGUAGE, GORDY…TSK, TSK. NOT PROPER OF GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL…HAS BATSY VISITED U TONIGHT? HE ALWAYS DOES…"

How did he know? Darn, everybody knew Batman visited Gordon several times during an investigation. But why he wanted to know now? "No, what's your game, Joker?"

" AS IF U DIDN'T KNOW."

"That's it. I'm not playing games with psychotics like you."

"HA…FUNNY PIG. THIS GAME'S SPECIAL. U WANNA PLAY THIS ONE."

"Why?" Gordon typed angrily.

"U OWE ME…REMEMBER?"

"I don't owe you anything…Clown." Gordon typed furiously. He knew he needed to end the communication, but he wasn't going to be insulted by a psychopathic murderer.

"YES, I ASKED U ANSWERED. REMEMBER?" The cursor blinked silently on the screen after the last letter. "IT WAS THEM OR IT WAS HER. I GUESS YOU SAID…HER. LUCKY I KNOW WHERE SHE LIVES…NOW BARBARA GETS TO PLAY WITH ME TONIGHT."

Gordon now remembered very well. It was the threat the Clown had made about killing children in a playground or his daughter. He never got to answer to that threat, so the Joker made the answer for him. No fair, why now? Gordon felt his heart skip a beat as his breathing got shallower.

"Barbara. No…" Gordon typed absentmindedly grabbing his crutches and heading out of the office at the top speed that his injuries permitted.

"YES, BARBARA. HAHAHAHAHAHA! RUN, GORDY. RUN LIKE THE WIND…A PIG IN CRUTCHES…AHHH, IF ONLY PIGS COULD FLY LIKE BATS…RIGHT?" The cursor typed in the lonely office and the screen filled with thousands of guffaws typed in all font types, sizes and colors, until the screen looked like a digital jigsaw puzzle.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Thomas Riverside was content with the small apartment that his mysterious benefactor had set him with after his escape from Black Gate. He delivered what he had promised. Inside the apartment he had found a new fresh set of civilian clothing and two state of the art laptops with wireless connection to the Internet. Between the laptops sat an iPhone with an open line. This guy didn't spare any expenses. Neo sat at the red laptop surfing in Bit lord for some software when the iPhone rang.

"Yes, Neo here."

"Good evening Mr. Riverside." The same Asian man he had spoken to in prison said in his now characteristic raspy voice. "Hope my accommodations are of your liking…"

"Nice, I like the laptops too…"

"And soon you will put them to good use. I just transferred two grand to your account, as an advance for your technical expertise since you probably will need it to start with your project. I need you to go and pick up a small piece of equipment for me. I had a friend of mine working on it, but I need someone else to take over."

"What is it Mr. D?" Neo inquired.

"A special type of memory card. We're talking terabytes of information per second."

"WOW. Sweet."

"I knew you would like to work on something like that. I need you to work the memory card in a frame I have built for it. Go to the address I'm texting you and meet with our contact, Francis. Once you get the card from him you will go to this warehouse I'm Map questing you, meet with an associate, and check what you will be working on. You will not be disappointed. Any questions, you call me, and only me, understood?"

"Loud and clear Mr. D."

"Good to hear that. I knew I made a good decision trusting your talent, Mr. Neo. There is also a computer engineer that I've hired to help you in your work. He's name is Walker. Expect him tomorrow morning. We will talk later."

The communication ended, and Neo started to stuff the computers in their carrying case. He checked the text messages in his iPhone and found the one he was looking for. Grabbing the computer case and finishing his soda he headed out of his apartment and down the stairs where his bike awaited him. A large, beautiful Harley Davidson bike, it was his little girl…. It was good to be free, back on the streets. He put his helmet on and mounted the bike. And what even felt better was being behind this beautiful Harley, like the one he had seen Santos drive in Brenton. Now he felt like a king... Neo made the engine roar, and sped away into the bowels of the East side.


	6. The Most Dangerous Game

_**Aurthor's note: **Another month...another chapter for your entertainment. The tension in Gotham heats up as we get more of Mr. D's plans to play with the city, while the Bat still battles to discover the identity of this new foe. Hope you like this new little instalment, as I try to twist the plot a little tighter before letting all hell get loose._

_I would love to hear your feedback on the story. Remember that we authors are addicted to interact closely with our readers, and in the cybermedia, reviews are the best tool to keep in touch. Any type of feedback will be appreciated. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter._

_DISCLAIMER 1: Batman and related characters belong solely to DC COMICS_

_DISCLAIMER 2: There will be moments of MATURE LANGUAGE and SITUATION as well as VIOLENCE. so please be warned._

_BETA: Once more I have to thank KICHI for helping beta-ing this story. Thanks for making space from your busy schedule for this project. KICHI is a consumate writer in her own right, please read her fiction and prepared to be hooked._

**Chapter 6: The Most Dangerous Game**

Gordon advanced down the hall with the hope of finding somebody to help him, but the bat was right and the building was almost empty at this time of the night. Only the processing center would be open that late at night, so he headed to the closest elevator. Once on ground level he started to walk as fast as the crutches allowed him.

"Can someone please help me…?" Gordon roared to the floor when several officers joined him in the hall.

"Commissioner?" A female officer said, surprised to see Gordon this late at night still in the building. "What can we do to--?"

"I need to send officers to my daughter's apartment. You might need to use the cell phones, because the lines have been compromised." All the officers looked at the Commissioner strangely, "What are you waiting for…MOVE!!! I need someone to turn on the Bat-signal on the rooftop and notify the Batman to meet me at Barbara's apartment complex. Go on, we don't have much time…"

Everybody moved hastily at the Commissioner's request. No one understood the danger that Barbara Gordon was in, but if the Commissioner said it was important, no one would question that. And Gordon understood that it was really important, because when he tried to kill people, Joker always carried out his threats. He quickly headed to the garage level to get his car. Throwing the crutches on the back seat heedlessly, he turned on the car and sped towards her daughter's apartment, praying that he would arrive in time to prevent a tragedy.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Bruce looked at the sequence of numbers on the main screen of the Bat-computer. Rows upon rows of numbers that didn't seem to make any sense scrolled through the screen. He had highlighted the patterns of the sequence and had just encountered a few small leads. First was that sequence of ones and eights that seem to repeat in tandems throughout the sequence but not in any specific pattern. Eight and ones, that translated to the alphabet corresponded to H and A respectively, like a guffaw. He felt that the sequence was indeed laughing at him and his ineptitude to solve the puzzle. Then every tandem had four numbers embedded in the sequence, that didn't mean a thing even when he tried to apply an alphabetical pattern. He had to be overlooking something.

Dick had suggested that the sequence might be a file or some kind, but it was so random. A file required organized commands and instructions. He felt like he was running into a wall with it all. He was so obsessed with the sequence that he even authorized Dick to share some of that sequence with his hacker friends in Blüdhaven. If Garibaldi had designed the sequence, maybe it would take another hacker to decipher it. It was risky to get more people involved in the investigation, but these were people that Nightwing trusted. Until then, he just had to wait for Dick's friends to come up with something useful to deal with this lead.

"Master Bruce…" The butler stated. Bruce just looked into the computer as if glued to the screen. "The Bat-signal is lit."

"Gordon…" Bruce replied turning to face his dear friend. "It must be something important."

"The Bat-mobile is fueled and ready sir."

"Thanks Alfred." Bruce muttered, readying himself to leave when he took one final look at the sequence on the screen. Those numbers were all he could think about. "What types of games is Garibaldi playing with me?"

"Excuse me sir?" The Butler interloped quizzically.

"This sequence. I feel like they are playing with me, by giving me a clue that has no relation to the case- at least, not yet." Batman tapped some commands on the keyboard and new segments of the sequence highlighted. "Why would Garibaldi leave these numbers behind?"

"Maybe it's not Garibaldi, but Joker."

"I don't know. This requires a hacker, someone with a very technical expertise. Joker is more like the demented artist, leading his masterpiece to chaos. This is Garibaldi's game."

"The MO, the Joker cards at the scenes. It spells Joker all the way, sir."

"While he is locked up in a cell, Alfred. Joker is distracting my attention from the main player of this game. He probably honestly believes that he can outsmart that other player…"

"Kirkpatrick?"

"Or maybe Metzger. I don't know. There is a possibility that the Japanese mafia might be behind this too."

"The origami…Japanese art of paper folding. Maybe that is what it all means."

"It's a possibility I've been considering." Bruce rose from the chair, adjusted his cowl, and headed down the stairs. In the middle of his descent he stopped and looked back at the butler. "But is Joker teasing me with clues, or is he purposely misguiding me so I lose perspective of the real players on this game? This is just so NOT him…"

"Joker has always enjoyed a good game of cat and mouse where you are concerned, sir."

"Which infuriates me. I hate to be used as a toy, and Joker is playing his game too well," Batman started to walk towards the parked Bat-mobile. He stopped momentarily and looked back at his old friend. "Alfred, didn't you work in the Royal Secret Service?

"At the service of her majesty, Master Bruce. Why?"

"How good are you with codes?"

"Not bad if I'm allowed to say it myself. You want me to take a look at the sequence while you are gone, sir?"

"I'll appreciate it. Maybe you can pick up something I'm missing."

"I'll do my best."

"Good. If you're able to get something useful, let Nightwing know of your findings. He's having his hacker friends get a look at it to develop a program to decode it. I'll talk to you when I get back from Gordon's office."

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Michael was carefully soldering some circuitry to a computer board when he heard someone knocking at the door. For a moment he wondered if it was another of the virtual Clown's surprises, and he turned to see the monitor beside which was blinking with a series of colorful guffaws that covered the entire screen with no Joker in sight. He checked the twin CPU towers underneath the desk and noticed there was activity on the hard drives and then checked the modem status. Busy. The Clown was probably online doing God knows what. _Great,_ he thought wondering how much trouble he could get into if someone followed the virtual Clown to his computers. The knock on the door became more insistent.

"Coming…I'm coming." He responded getting up from his chair and walking to answer the door. As he opened it he saw the smiling face of the landlord who, without asking permission, let himself into the apartment. Blip faked a smile and followed the Hindi around attentively with his eyes. He could feel his heart starting to race. "Mr. M-Mohan…w-what a surprise."

"Hi, Francis…came to make sure everything was alright," Mohan stated as he walked about the living room as if examining it for evidence. There were empty boxes of pizza and half full cups of soda scattered all over the place. "You missed your rent. It was due on Monday."

Blip looked at his watch. Two days overdue…what was Mohan's hurry? "Oh, I'm so sorry. I've been so busy that I must've forgotten. I will have your rent later today, after a client pays up for services. That OK?"

"Sure sure…no problem," Mohan responded as he continued around the apartment coming dangerously close to the bedroom. The last thing Blip needed was for the Hindi to see his virtual Joker. "It's just that you always paid in time. Everything alright with you, Francis?"

"Yeah. Business is steady thanks to you, Mr. Mohan." Blip answered moving slowly towards the bedroom. He needed to be able to prevent the Hindi from reaching the bedroom."Thanks for all those clients you have sent me. They've all kept me busy."

"You're welcome." Mohan said making a short pause to sift through some computer magazines lying on the coffee table. "Is that why you stay here so long? I hardly see you anymore."

"Yeah, lots of work…" Blip really started to get nervous as Mohan met him at the bedroom's door. The Hindi stopped in front of Michael with his round pudgy face stretched with a large smile and he's gold molar glinted under the lamp light. Mohan's black eyes glanced over Blip's shoulder trying to get a glimpse of the bedroom in disarray when the hacker yawned and stretched against the doorframe. Mohan looked back at Michael, smile gone from his face. Those beady black orbs pierced through him like a father looked at the son he's about to scold. Blip swallowed hard. "Can I help you with anything else Mr. Mohan?"

Mohan smiled again. "Actually you can. I think my books have been a little…off lately, if you get my meaning. I was wondering if you could help me with that before I do my taxes?"

"Sure. Let me take a shower. I will meet you downstairs in a little while. Is that cool?"

"Cool," Mohan said with a chuckle. He motioned to the tall tower of leftovers on the coffee table. "Try to keep the place a little tidier, Francis. I don't want to have to deal with cockroaches and ants. OK?"

"Sure thing. I'll clean it up today. Promise."

The Hindi waved affectionately and left the apartment and Blip felt for the first time it was safe to start breathing again. That was close. He didn't need anybody to know what he did during the day, especially when that involved dealing with the most dangerous man in the city. Michael rushed to the entrance, secured the door with the double lock and a chair. He then walked back to the bedroom and luckily for him, the virtual Jester was still in one of his cybernetic errands leaving him on his own to deal with this crisis. He let himself fall heavily at the desk. How much more stress could he take before exploding?

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

When Gordon arrived at the Gotham Plaza, he saw his worst nightmare become true. There was grayish smoke coming from the building's ninth floor. At the scene, surprised tenants of the condo complex were escaping the flames and smoke with the help of friends, family, and the good souls that had volunteered to help get people out. The fire trucks had just arrived and were equipping some of the firemen to enter the building while two others were connecting a hose to a nearby hydrant. Gordon parked the car and with the aid of his crutches, he moved swiftly among the multitude that started to gather around.

"What's happening?" Gordon said as he showed his police badge to the chief fireman.

"Very strange…There has been a fire burning in the ninth floor of building H, but no fire alarms have been activated at the station. One of the tenants had to call us when he saw the smoke. The fire seemed to have been burning for a while now. I'm going to send some firemen to make sure the floor has been evacuated. There are some people missing."

"My daughter, lives in the ninth floor of that building…"

"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that. Hope she had time to get her belongings because I think that floor is going to be totaled." the Chief said.

"I don't know. I haven't heard from her." Gordon ran an anxious hand through his moustache.

"Then you need to go ask Ms. Buenaventura, the condo administrator over there." The Chief signaled to a young, dark-haired lady with a notebook in her hands standing a few yards away. Accompanying the lady were two gentlemen on their cell phones. "She should have reported with her after she evacuated the building. I'll keep you posted of what we find."

"Thanks." Gordon said walking towards the lady with the notebook. He wished he could move faster with those crutches. If he could, he would have gone and checked on Barbara's apartment himself.

"Commissioner Gordon?" The lady said with surprise in her voice while she lowered her small metal-rimmed spectacles to meet the officer. Her accent was thick and definitely Latin American. "How can I help you?"

"I need to find Ms. Barbara Gordon from apartment 957… I wondered if she had reported with you."

The lady quickly looked over her notebook, page by page very carefully as she removed some brown curls off her eyes. "No, Ms. Gordon has not reported to me yet. Have you tried calling her?"

"Yes. She's… not answering…" Gordon looked around nervously and ran both hands over his hair. This whole situation was nerve wracking… Where was Barbara? Still in her apartment…trapped? He pulled his phone and called Barbara's number again. It started to ring and at the fourth one, the voicemail picked up the call. "Sweetie…it's dad and the fifth time I called, please call me back as soon as you hear this. I want to make sure you're OK …love you."

"I'm sorry, Commissioner. I will let you know if I hear anything from your daughter."

"I…I really appreciate it." Gordon replied as he replaced his cell phone in one of his jacket's outer pockets. If only he could be sure that Barbara was out of danger. From a nearby building a dark caped figure landed close to the fire truck. Once on the ground, the figure walked over to Gordon.

"I received your message at the station."

"That fucking son of a bitch is going after my daughter again."

"Who?"

"Who else? The Clown." Gordon barked. "He's after Barbara."

"Is she alright?"

"I don't know… I have not being able to get in touch with her and she's not answering her cell phone." Gordon shifted his weight on his crutches nervously. "The Fire department is up in the building now and they say that there might be people trapped…or dead in the building. The fire didn't activate the alarms at the fire station in time."

"And how do you know it was Joker…?"

"That son of a bitch had the nerve of getting into my computer…reminding me of the game he wanted me to play with him where I had to choose between my daughter and children. He chose for me, and he chose Barbara. You should've have heard him, even admitted to killing Garrison and Clancy, all the while laughing. It was him alright." Batman stared at the Commissioner.

"You said that Joker had no resources, how do you explain this then?" Gordon snapped.

"Commissioner," the Fire Chief interrupted as he came closer to Gordon. "The conditions are critical in the ninth floor and it's too dangerous to send people over to check all the apartments. My men said it might have originated in one of the apartments from 955 to 958. The area is inaccessible because of the heat…"

"God…No…" Gordon looked at the Chief in disbelief running a hand across his forehead. The head fireman looked at the caped crusader.

"My men are doing their best to keep the fire under control, but it's going to take some time. We'll try to get into those apartments as soon as we can." The Chief started to head back to the fire truck.

"No, no, no…not again!" The Commissioner shouted while stomping the crutches angrily against the floor. "I'll kill him. If anything happens to my daughter…" Gordon said with tears starting to well in his eyes. "I will kill that Clown with my bare hands."

"Jim…you need to calm down. Joker wants you to go down to his level and lose your focus. He controls you the moment you give to his games, and let anger lose…"

"It's kind of hard not to get angry when the games include my family, don't you think?" Gordon spat back at the Dark Detective. It hurt, but Gordon had reason to be angry. His daughter was in mortal danger. Batman just looked at the Commissioner tenderly, and tightened his hold on his friend's shoulder. "Damn it…I'm sorry. It's just that…."

"It's your daughter…I know." Batman said dryly. "I am the one who should apologize. It is difficult when his sadistic games touch you so close."

"Batman…I…" Gordon started to say when his cell phone started ringing. He looked at the ID caller and smiled as he answered. "Barbara… you OK? Where are you? I'll meet you there right now." The Commissioner moved across as fast as he could on his crutches to the front of the building. Behind him, the Dark Knight followed very close, making sure there was enough space for Gordon to pass by. Once they arrived to the front of the apartment complex, the Commissioner went back on the phone. "Barbara…where?"

In the multitude of people gathered around the police perimeter of the building, he saw a waving hand. He rushed through the multitude that quickly started to part to allow the officer and his Detective friend in.

"Dad!" Barbara said as the Commissioner set aside his crutches and knelt by the wheelchair holding his daughter's hand between his. The Detective recognized Dick Grayson behind the wheelchair. They silently exchange looks and nods.

"I'm so glad to see that you are all right, Barbara." Gordon said while hugging and kissing his daughter tenderly on her forehead. "But why didn't you answer your phone? I was worried."

"Dick and I went to the movies and I had to turn my cell phone off. Forgot all about it until we returned and saw the smoke and the fire trucks…what happened?"

"There is a fire in your floor, Ms. Gordon. It appeared to have started very close to your apartment." Batman explained.

"Oh, my God! Are all the other tenants OK?"

"We are hoping, but it's too early to assess at the time..."Gordon said running a tender hand over her daughter's hair. "God, it's so good to see you again. In the meantime you can stay at my apartment until we figure this out. I will have officers posted around the complex for your safety. I will not let that clown get close to you…"

"Clown!?" Gordon looked at Barbara not knowing what to say. He needed for her to be safe from the clutches of the Joker, but at the same time she didn't need to worry about the monster that crippled her. He turned to look at the Batman who stood silently beside him.

"She has a right to know, Commissioner."

"Need to know what, dad? You can tell me."

"The Joker might be responsible for the fire." He finally let out feeling as if he had just dropped the mountain he was carrying over his shoulders.

"The same crazy clown locked up in Arkham? But how?" Nightwing inquired, looking very surprised by the news. Batman shook his head.

"Oh my God, he escaped again…." Barbara mumbled as she felt the world crumbled around her. Life seemed to find a way of repeating itself.

"There has not been news of an escape at Arkham." Batman replied reassuringly. "And I will confirm that he's still there…"

"He's there alright. I personally checked on him before coming here," Montoya added as she joined the group. "He was sleeping at the time you got your call, Commissioner and he has not had access to any electronic equipment since his arrest. Nothing."

"He did it…somehow, Renee, I know he did. Right now I will appreciate if you gather a group of your best officers to escort Barbara to my apartment tonight. I want them posted around the perimeter. I also need to find a safe place to move her tomorrow. I'm not giving this Clown another chance to get to her."

"I understand." Montoya opened her cell phone and made some calls.

"Daddy, what about you? If Joker finds out he didn't get me, he might try something against you."

"I'm going to be ok. That Clown knows better than to mess with me while I'm on duty…he's not surprising me again, right Batman…Batman?"

Gordon looked behind him to notice that the Dark Knight had disappeared from sight. Even Dick Grayson had lost view of the Caped vigilante while worrying for Barbara's well being. Dick knelt by Oracle and came close to her ear.

"I have to go…I think I know where Bruce went to and if I'm right…the night could be a little rough for a certain Clown tonight."

"Whatever happens to him…he deserves every bit of it." Barbara whispered back at Nightwing. "God…how many people did he kill tonight?"

"I don't worry about Joker…I worry about Batman." He kissed her softly on the cheek. "Take care…I'll see you soon, babe. Love you." Holding tightly to her hand, for a brief moment, Dick abandoned the scene of the fire to his motorcycle. Bruce might need someone to help him tonight and maybe to even aid him on keeping his cool.

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was around eight in the evening when Gerard heard a commotion coming from the meeting room. He got up from his desk and rushed out to see five Leopards around a tall blonde man, waving their guns agitatedly around them and then aiming them at the unknown man. At the same time, the Leopards were yelling expletives of all kinds towards the unknown guest who just remained impassively watching the gang members every move.

"What's going on here, guys? Who's this?" Gerard inquired, joining his men in the living room.

"The asshole thought he could get through our perimeter without us noticing him. Probably a spy, but we'll teach 'im what we do to spies. Right, boys?" All the gang cheered loudly.

"I can assure you I don't belong to any gang, gentlemen," The mysterious man stated in a thick German accent as he bowed to Gerard. "I bring salutations from Mr. D."

"The Asian sent you? Why wasn't I informed?" Gerard responded.

"Didn't you get my email?" The man responded with a sinister smile on his face. Gerard shook his head on the negative. "My apologies. Never trust MSN to deliver your emails, gentlemen."

"And look what we found in his pockets, Gerard," one of the Leopards say handing Gerard a box of cards. He opened the box and checked the deck that consisted of all Joker cards.

"You mind explaining these Mr…?"

"M. You can call me Mr. M., Gerard and those are for you. Your new signature."

"I don't understand."

"Mr. D. strongly believes that you should get repaid for the dishonor suffered in Gotham one year ago, vhere the Batman and the police tried to erase the Leopards permanently."

"You're getting your facts all wrong. That was the Joker's doing, Mr. M. And these are HIS signature. We don't like these at all…it makes us feel as if you're trying to make fun of us."

"I can assure you that vas not my intention, Mr. Gerard. I just vanted to show you that anyone can be a Joker once they understand vat being the Joker is all about. Mr. D. vants you to use those to spread chaos and mayhem in Gotham. He vants you to be Joker."

"And what about the real Clown? You think he likes the idea of someone stealing his act?"

"He's in a mental hospital so who cares?" M. responded with a shrug. "Joker is no longer a person, but an idea, Gerard. An idea that Mr. D. vants to make sure gets carved in the minds of every single Gotham citizen. It's time to have a new Joker in town and Mr. D. vill revard you and your…friends generously for your efforts to spread his chaos."

"I don't understand. You want us to be like Joker? Mr. D. promised we would not be in the foreground."

"And you vill not. That is Mr. D's place, not yours. You vill play vith the rest of the city, behind the stage."

"Still…we'll be working for the Joker…"

"No, the Joker vill be vorking for you." M. smiled. "You vill profit every time chaos is unleashed. The more chaos, the more money you make and nobody needs to know you did it. It's a no-brainer, Mr. Garnier."

"That's all we need to do, and we will get paid?" Gerard questioned playing with the card deck in his hand. M. nodded and pulled two more decks from his jacket. "And the Joker gets the blame…I kinda like it. So what does Mr. D wants us to do to spread his chaos?"

"For now, I vill need anyone in your team who knows about explosives. Vee're planning a little surprise for the city and you'll get paid by the corpse. Interested Mr. Garnier?" The Leopard leader nodded. "Good, but it vould be vise to take off your Leopard jackets. Vee don't vant to raise suspicion, right?"

ooooooooooooooooooooooo

Harvey Two-Face was not really a morning person. He preferred to sleep in late and work later at night even when it meant running into the Bat-freak. The Batman never worried him though. He knew how to take care of the rat, but what concerned him now was getting all the things that the Asian had requested him in the allotted time frame. Latex, some electronic equipment he didn't even knew existed, but that seemed very important for the Asian. What Dokeshi was building was beyond him, but as long as he paid him as much as he was now, he didn't need to ask any questions just get the equipment on time. Harvey's cell phone rang.

"Yes Mr. M?" He answered promptly recognizing the number in his ID caller.

"Good morning, Mr. Dent. Hope this is not too early for you but just vanted to know if you had any trouble meeting Mr. D's requirements?"

"The crates are at the warehouse and he'll have his equipment in time, Mr. M. Just make sure he has our check in time as well."

"Oh you don't need to vorry, Mr. Dent. Payment in full upon delivery, as promised. I'm heading back to the city and bring the extra help you requested. 'Dis guys are special, you vill not be disappointed."

"Don't know why you didn't let me hire the help, M. I always hire the best."

"But Mr. D vanted the best of the best and that's vhat you got. It's vorth the investment, believe me."

"I'm not the delivery boy, M. I was promised a lot more."

"Oh and you vill get it, but all in due time. First vee need to get rid of your competition, and then you can 'ave this city to play vith if you vant. Vee'll meet you soon again at the varehouse. Have a great day."


	7. Only Ashes Remain

**Chapter 7: Only Ashes Remain...**

Batman had to pull a lot of strings in the hospital to allow him access to him to the Joker this late at night. He had to see the clown by himself if the Joker was as isolated as Montoya said he was. If he had found a way around his restrictions, he had become a threat once more, and a lot of people might have died because of him tonight. He had to be stopped before the body count became larger.

Batman walked fast and in long strides along the corridor until he reached the last cell to the left. Behind him one of the security guards tried to keep up with him. The Dark Knight stood in front of the acrylic wall and looked at the bed that was nicely done …and empty. _God, no._ He looked around and in a corner he saw a large lump on the floor.

"Lights." The masked vigilante ordered to the security officer who motioned to the staff on the security post to turn on the lights on the hall. With the illumination, Batman confirmed that the lump in the floor was Joker dressed up in the Hospital's bright orange uniform. The Jester was all curled up in the corner, with his back to the door, his white arms folded over his body. "Why is he sleeping on the floor?"

"Don't know…" whispered the security officer. "Been doing that for the last two weeks."

"Leave us for one moment and get everything ready for the transfer." Batman said and the guard nodded, leaving for his post a few feet away. Batman remained there in silence, looking at the figure on the floor.

"You know it's not polite to stare, right?" The recumbent figure said from the cell floor.

"I thought you were sleeping."

"I thought you were hanging upside down in a dark cave somewhere stewing in your anger…Guess not. And I can't sleep with you staring behind my back. Feels creepy." Joker turned around and lay on his back as he gazed at the black figure outside. The Jester yawned with a loud moan. "And it tickles."

"Why are you sleeping on the floor?"

"You come in this late…" Joker yawned and took a quick look at his wrist where a large watch had been hand inked on his pale wrist, "…just to play trivia pursuit? We like to sleep, Bats…some on beds…some on the floor, some even hang from high ceilings. It's a matter of taste."

"I didn't come to talk to you. Getting information from you is the same as getting water from a rock."

"OUCH! That hurts, Bats. Well, if you didn't come to see me sleep…what you want?" Joker pushed himself up until he sat on the floor looking to the door. "'Cause I need some beauty sleep."

"Kneel on the floor with your back to the door and put your hands on the back of your head. And don't make me say it twice."

"Oh, so THAT'S what you want. You want to have it now… and get kinky, I see. Two can play that game, you know? You want me to close my eyes too?" Joker turned around giggling and did what he was told. Batman opened the door, entered swiftly and shackled the Clown's hands behind his back. He lifted him in a single pull and started to walk Joker out of his cell. In the hall the security guard was back, waiting at the entrance of the cell in front of Joker's. "Where are you taking me, Bats…?"

"Outside of your cell…can't you see?"

The Jester giggled. "I want you want to take me to a nice restaurant. I like candlelight…"

"You didn't take you medication, did you Joker?"

"No, it makes me think straight and you know how twisted I like to be. Now tell me. Come on, I like games…be a nice bat and tell me. Whisper sweet nothings into my ear." The Jester protested when the cell in front of his opened and the Batman tossed him inside. "HEY!! No kiss?"

"You're sick."

"I know, but happier than some bats I know." Joker laughed softly. "Boy you're in a lousy mood tonight. What? You PMS'ing or something? Oh, I know. That sequence of numbers is still bothering you. You regret having flunked geometry in high school, don't you?

Batman frowned angrily and grabbed the Joker by his orange overall, pushing the Clown Prince against the wall of the cell. "Stop playing around, Joker. You have been misbehaving, and you are going to be punished."  
"Punished? Now you sound like my father," Joker sighed. "What did I do now…kill the Commissioner, his daughter? And I probably did it while I was asleep too, right? I'm so fucking good." The Clown burst into frantic laughter.

Batman pushed the Clown harder against the wall, making the Jester grunt. He knew what had transpired tonight and was mocking him. Joker was playing a game, some twisted version of cat and mouse, and he was starting to put innocent lives in danger. Batman needed to know how he was doing that, but first he had to control his anger. This was a game he wasn't going to play on the Jester's level. The Knight let go of the Joker and walked out of the cell. Joker followed, laughing loud when the door of the cell closed in front of him.

"Hey no fair…you're just gonna leave me here? I wanna go back to my cell." The Jester said between giggles.

"That is your new cell." Batman growled.

"No, no, no. You can't do this to me!!!" The Jester snapped at the black figure of the Detective. "I have rights and I had a one year lease on that one."

"I just did." Batman answered while walking back to the Joker's old cell. On its way out, he turned the camera in the hall around to the Clown's new location. He started to examine every inch of the cell, commencing by the metal desk, which he went under and felt all over. If there was a computer in this cell, he was going to find it. "…and you lost your rights the day you entered this place, Joker. Stop whining."

"But I liked the view…." Joker bellowed while resting his head against the acrylic door of the new cell. Batman stopped what he was doing and looked at the white bare walls. "The blackened sky, the dead trees…the ground littered with small dead rotting…things. Can't you see it through the window?" Joker started to giggle childishly.

The Detective shook his head and continued the meticulous search of the cell. "This is just a regular search, Joker. I don't expect to find anything."

"A-ha. Whatever. You went to check on the body and it's still there, under the bed. I confess…I killed the roach in a moment of insanity. I was just crazy to see something die." Joker walked over to the small, striped cot in his new cell and sat down, giggling. Batman in the meantime moved over to the Jester's bed where he removed the sheets and lifted the mattress. "And I would be careful with that…. He doesn't like it when you mess up the bed."

"Who, Joker?" asked Batman running a hand along the rim of the bedpost as he examined the metal support of the bed meticulously.

The Clown shrugged sheepishly. "Don't know, but I hope he eats you."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Nothing." Joker said and started to mumble angrily. "Eat him…I beg you… _eat him!"_

"Is that why you were sleeping on the floor? I'm checking every inch of your bed and there's nothing on, in or around your bed. Maybe it's just in your head." Batman said as he moved over to the metal desk.

"You haven't seen the things I've seen…so don't tell me it's all in my head." The Jester giggled. "Or maybe it _is_ all in my head. If it is…why do I keep bringing you here? I can do better than bring you to my psychoses all the time."

"You are hallucinating again, Joker. I'm going to tell Dr. Arkham. Maybe he would want to change your medications." Batman stated walking towards the Joker's new cell as the Jester angrily mumbled something unintelligible. The detective looked over the Jester's table. Nothing. There was nothing in here that remotely looked like a piece of electronic equipment. This was a dead end. The guard opened the door to the Joker's new cell and the Detective entered with a new set of bed sheets and clothes that he tossed by the Jester. "Here. New fresh laundry for you."

Joker smiled wide and produced a pair of undone shackles from behind his back. "Oh thank you…how considerate. Here's your tip…do you have change for a pair of used bat-shackles? They will sell well on E-bay, like Joker cards with silver nitrate stains, you know?"

The Detective frowned. "I was wondering how long it would take you to get out of those." Batman said, taking the shackles form the Clown's hands. The Joker shrugged and smirked. "Now strip."

"What?" The Jester roared angrily. "You can't be serious…"

"You heard me. Take your clothes off or I will take them off for you one whack at a time, Joker." Batman said sternly.

"You want to see me naked that bad?" The Jester wagged an angry finger. "You have issues, Bats, and I don't strip on the first date, pervert…" The Batman started to advance towards the Jester menacingly. The Joker backed off to the wall of the cell and started to take off his shirt. "OK. OK, I'll strip, but this is humiliating…hmm, does this by any chance have to do with what happened tonight? I can see that _fire_ in your eyes, you know?"

_That's it!_ The Clown knew of the attack on Barbara. _Bastard…how could you...after all you have done to her…? _Batman lunged and grabbed the Joker by the neck, forcing him back hard against the wall. "What about tonight, Joker? Got anything to tell me? Going to gloat about the chaos you caused tonight?"

"So…something happened tonight… (koff, koff)…and of course, like always…(koff)… you're blaming it on me again. (koff…koff) Want to elaborate on my theory? Like my mother, you're obsessed with the idea (koff) that I'm responsible for every little evil in the world. It's getting difficult to live up to your expectations, you know? I can only cause so much evil at once… (koff, koff, koff). You're also…(gack!)…Choking me."

Batman tightened the grip on the Jester's neck and felt the Jester swallow hard under his hand. The Clown Prince smiled and gasped for air and his skin started to take a purplish hue. He tried to laugh but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a gurgle. The Detective's hold was making him turn blue and his vision started to blur. Joker felt himself go limp as the world started to darken around him when suddenly the tight grip around his neck loosened enough to let him gulp some of the much-needed air. The color quickly faded to his normal shade of white as he held on to the wall.

Batman glared at the Clown. It would be so easy to snap that thin neck, nobody would care, and nobody will judge him…and he would never forgive himself for going down to the Clown's level, Batman thought. He could still hear Superman's words in his head…this was not him. He was not a murderer. Batman released the Joker and backed off.

"Whoa! (koff, koff). That was close…." the Jester said rubbing his neck and trying to giggle with some effort. "You never disappoint me. (koff) A little longer and you would have broken your cardinal rule and you would've been mine. Almost there, Bats. (koff, koff)"

"The rest of your clothes off…NOW!" Batman barked dryly.

Joker finished taking off his shirt and his pants and tossed them to the Dark Knight, then went on to removing his shoes. He stood there in front of the Detective, in nothing more than his white boxers with a smiley face on the back and socks. He then started to shake his ass in his white clean underwear while turning around sporting a toothy smile. "Want to see my sexy dance? ….I'm too sexy for my bat…too sexy for my bat…too sexy by far…"

"Good night, Joker…" Batman said dryly as he turned around and exited cell with Joker's clothes. Behind him, the clown had started to laugh hysterically in his cell, and it echoed in the emptiness of the hall.

"OK, leave me now…but you'll be back for more… because I know you want me. And I will bring you down to my level because deep inside, you're just like me. And no one will be able to tell us apart." Another round of crazy laughter followed. "In the meantime…tell Gordon I miss him, would you, chum? Tell him to write me sometime…we got real close, you know?"

On the way out, Batman encountered Nightwing in his black and blue uniform, looking at him from the second security post. The young man waved with a large smile on his face.

"That went really well…I'm proud of you."

"You came here to spy on me?" Batman said defensively throwing the Jester's clothes on the table at the post.

"No…just wanted to make sure you didn't…beat the clown too hard. Public image you know."

"I didn't come here to beat up on the Joker."

"I know…but I also know the Joker has a big mouth and it came very close to that, didn't it?"

Batman started to walk past Nightwing. "Almost. But we are not going to satisfy Joker's twisted humor."

"True. Found anything?"

"Just proof that Joker couldn't have made the call to Gordon."

"So the clown is innocent…"

"I wouldn't go that far, but there is more to do before this mystery is over. Meet me at the cave later on… I have a few theories I would like to share with you."

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Michael was soldering a few circuits on a motherboard when a collection of guffaws and chortles distracted him from his task. He looked beside him and saw the Joker in the screen monitor accompanied of two albino hyenas sporting the Jester's green hair on top of their heads as well as red bloody lips. The Small Clown was giggling and laughing while the hyenas pranced happily around him.

"I see you're back," Blip asked going back to his work on the motherboard. "You programmed those too?"

"Yes, gotta problem with that, kid? You're always busy and it gets kind of lonely in here, but the walk in the park was nice, and the fire, the explosions, people screaming. The chaos was memorable, watch the news channel."

Michael grunted. "You know that if you keep using memory to create subroutines for your games, there is not going to be enough memory left for you, right?"

"Right…and I will run in…slooooow…moootion…." The virtual Jester responded slowing down his voice and making his movements intentionally slower on the screen. He then started to laugh in the same slow motion manner. "But you'll expand my memory whenever I need it, right?"

"WRONG!" Michael snapped back turning around angrily, surprising the virtual Joker who back off taken aback by the sudden rage. "I'm not expanding anything. I made you at Joker's specifications to be his mind outside of Arkham and devise ways of getting him out. So far I haven't seen you come up with anything. Your program is not performing as expected. Maybe it needs to be deleted."

"Really. Sez who?" The Jester protested as the he hyenas cowered and rolled over offering their abdomen in submission with their tails between their legs.

"Me. Can you tell me what you have done to get the Joker out of Arkham?"

"Why are we so edgy, Einstein? You're not having much cyber-sex…are you?"

"Stop joking around," Michael snapped at the virtual Jester. "So far today has been crummy after Mohan almost discovered what I do here, and I don't see you doing anything to get Joker out."

"Gandhi needs to die…again." Blip heard the virtual Joker sigh. "And did you ever play chess, Blip?"

"Yes, but what does it have to do with--?"

"One word…strategy. In chess, before you can engage in an attack, you have to achieve positional advantage. Then the massacre can begin." The virtual Clown knelt and started to pet the hyenas. "Yes, massacre...savage, violent, bloody massacre. Gee…those are fun, right guys?" Joker started to laugh hysterically.

"It looks to me like you're indulging in too much fun. Why can't you focus on the task at hand?"

"This operation is more complicated than it seems. Lots of tiny details that need to be arranged before--"

"SHUT UP! What exactly have you planned?" Blip snapped violently putting the soldering tool down. "So far we have not achieved anything even coming close to getting the Boss out. You only like to play."

"Yes, I like playing around. It's in my nature, but that is all a master plan. Checkmate is just a few moves away…" The virtual Jester kicked one of the albino hyenas with all his might out of the screen. The beast howled in pain all the way until it disappeared from view. "Ahhhh. Are you hurting Mickey…? I don't know what came over me, but there are some pieces of wetware that just make me lose my cool. I promise…to never kick you again. Come 'ere, baby." The Clown produced a shotgun from thin air and fired at the hurting beast, causing it to explode and leave a large red blotch on the screen. The stain slowly faded while the other hyena cowered timidly by the Clown's side. Michael looked terrified at the Jester in the screen. "Now, shooting you…that was much more fun…" Joker boasted laughing.

"That was sick…" Michael said letting himself heavily on the chair. "PETA would never approve of that."

"Yeah, but that really put a smile on my face." Joker said with a wide grin and he rose from the floor. "And you …well, I still need you. There's still phase two and we are about to do what no one has thought possible…go against all the rules, because after all I have only one rule…. to have no rules at all."

"And the plan is…" Blip said noticing how his mouth was now parched. He grabbed a nearby can of soda and drank.

"Why do you think I keep you in the payroll? Turn YOU into a murderer…"

Michael spit all the soda in his mouth. "I don't want to play like that…Joker, you're crazy. Payroll?" Blip moved over the monitor reaching for the power cable. "I'm gonna turn you off."

"Yep…My RAM just rambles into chaos, my Gigs have turned into Gags…and the beauty of the plan is how ridiculous it sounds." The Jester started to laugh hysterically on the screen. "And without me, you might lose your ONLY chance to get your boss back. You don't want me telling the boss I couldn't get him out of the hole because I was turned off by a disgruntled hacker, right?"

Michael sat back on his chair and massaged his forehead. "No, but that plan is not funny and I don't see--."

"Just trust me. These things take time, but at the end all three of us will be laughing around the campfire about this story. By the way, how are you going on with the memory card? You've been working on it since yesterday."

"It's almost finished, just need to test the framework, why?" Blip said returning to his workbench.

"I never thought you would be able to build it. That's all." The Jester said with a shrug.

"What do you take me for? That's child's play, dude. Building hardware is a breeze. Programming, that's a real challenge and then...look at you. You shouldn't even exist."

"Gee, that almost sounds insulting, Einstein. And that was not just a 'simple module'. Nothing like that has been built before."

"Well, it's almost done. Happy?" Michael spat out angrily showing off the piece of equipment. "I can do anything."

"Good 'cause I'll need you to relay your technical duties."

"What?"

"I'm going to have you transfer your module to someone else, while we get you all ready for your killer debut. It's going to be a great season…murder is always in season." Joker quipped laughing loudly.

"And who is going to keep the work…nobody else knows about your little experiment. Heck…nobody knows about you."

"Well, that is almost true." Joker started to explain when someone knocked at the door. Michael looked at the virtual Jester with some suspicion.

"What did you do?"

"Surprise! Our little project just became international." The Jester said extending his hands wide on the screen as the knocking became more insistent. "I met this friend online…from Japan. Very cool guy, very ambitious, ruthless, and above all…real funny. Oh, and pays very well too. We bonded and made business right away. My friend sent his friend to talk to my friend…and I think that might be him now. Now be nice and open the door. Important people are waiting on that little piece of hardware."

"I'm building this for you to sell and you don't tell me a thing? You have this serious problem with sharing information."

"I'll create a subroutine to remember sharing next time." The Jester responded with an innocent shrug. "Please don't keep our friend waiting. Oh, and though I don't think he'll recognize you, your name is Francis."

Blip automatically started to walk to the door. "Recognize me…have I met him?" Michael said when he looked through the peephole and saw Neo standing in front of the door. Panic took hold of the hacker who hid safely beside the entrance. What the hell is he doing here? _What the fuck had that piece of software gotten me into…I'm a dead hacker, _Garibaldi thought as his mind raced at the speed of sound. This was not part of any plan…this was suicide. After what Joker did to the Leopards, how could he hire a Leopard to go on with the work? This program was out of the bounds of any logic, and more into the realm of insanity. What could he do now….?

"Come on boy…don't make me go and open the door myself…" The Jester screamed from the room. Michael swallowed hard and held to the doorknob. He opened the door slightly, his hand behind his back holding his faithful .44.

"How c-can I help y-you?" Michael stuttered.

"Francis?" Blip responded with a silent nod. "I'm Neo and I'm picking up a piece of hardware for Mr. D?"

"W-who? I…I'll be back in a moment." Blip responded rapidly as he close the door on Neo's face and ran fast towards the bedroom. He stopped at the monitor catching his breath. "What the fuck are you trying to do…. get me killed? There's a Leopard out there."

"Is it?" The virtual Jester riposted with eyebrows pulled upwards in surprise. "Hmm… Maybe he's just hungry- you can tell him you don't have any meat on your bones, it's all fat and lard. Maybe he'll go away."

"This is not funny. I meant a Leopard…as in Charley's Leopards? Did you know you were dealing with the Leopards?"

The Joker's green eyes glinted, then his face quickly transformed into a picture of sheer terror. "Uh-oh, not really…Hmm. That could present a problem. He didn't recognize you, right?"

"I don't think so…but still…" Michael ran a weary hand along his sweaty face. "And who is Mr. D?"

"Mr. D is my buyer, a very important customer." The virtual Joker rubbed his chin insistently. "Blip, I swear I didn't know and with my less than perfect history with the cattery, I'm concerned about what's going to happen next."

"No kidding me…"

"FAST! Give him what he wants and send 'im off his merry way, please."

"What he wants is MY module. Maybe we shouldn't give 'im anything and just snuff 'im or something."

Joker boasted in a loud laughter. "Whoa… and what do we do with him, Einstein? Stack him in the attic along with whoever comes after him? Give 'im what he wants and off he goes, Blip. Hurry."

"I don't like this…and I like you using me even less."

"Sorry, but I invested too much time and cash to just back off from a deal like that." The virtual Jester started to look around nervously. "I really needed that cash, and we need Mr. D to help us get big J out of the hole."

"You shouldn't be doing deals like that in the first place." Blip retorted angrily. "You're not the Joker."

"I know," Joker responded with a sad shrug. "I just wanted to help. Really. The Asian said he could, for a price so I took him to his word. Now, just give him his stuff and let him go. Please? Pretty please?"

Blip pondered and realized he didn't have many options. Michael grabbed the memory card and headed towards the door. He took a deep breath and opened the door again, facing a frowning Neo.

"What's wrong with you, man? You closed that door on my face."

"Had to…had to confirm you were the real contact so I phoned my boss and you're…ehem…clean." Garibaldi cleared his throat and handed the piece of hardware to the Leopard hacker along with a series of papers with drawings and codes. "Here. Just needs to test the framework, but it should work. If you have any problems, refer to the schematics file included in the flash drive."

Neo examined the circuitry. "This is nice, clean…and a very familiar design. Do I know you, man?"

Blip started to sweat. "Umm, no. I don't do charities. Now can you please leave? I'm kind of…kind of busy."

Neo narrowed his eyes. "Thanks jerk." The hacker turned around and headed towards the elevator shaft while Michael closed the door calmly and fell on his knees in front of the door. He could feel his heart thumping against his throat. He was on the verge of another panic attack.

"Is he gone?" The Joker said from the bedroom. "Blip?"

"Y-yes." The hacker let out between gasps. Michael felt his heart pounding in his chest.

"OK. Then come here. We have still work to do."

Blip got up from the floor and headed back to the bedroom. He stood by the door glaring at the Jester in the monitor. "I almost die and you're talking about work. What's wrong with you? This is all your fault."

"What can I do, Blip? I'm just a piece of software, remember? I made the deal through the net, and how would I have known the Leopards worked for my buyer." The Jester smiled. "I admit it, I'm useless without my operator and speaking of circus clowns, you don't worry because I'm going to make it up to you."

"How?"

"For my next trick, I'm going to make use of the virtual realm. The beauty of the virtual world is that reality is not a permanent state…. it changes constantly to fit our needs. Like the reality in my head…" The virtual Jester started to laugh while Michael ran a nervous hand through his hair.

"You don't care about what could have just happened, do you?"

"What, the Leopard? He's gone, and I'm counting that in a permanent way. Nobody got hurt, right? Now the Asian needs to do his move. So why worry?" Michael shook his head. "Come on, Blip, put on a happy face…we have a Clown to rescue and now that I have some cash…I need you to go shopping for me."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was midmorning in Gotham, and the city's police department computers were still off-line. Gordon had ordered the entire system to be shut down, until he could isolate the cause of the break in the system firewall. Meredith Lancaster, now head of the Department of Computer Science after the events of last year's cyber-attack by Joker and his gang, sat at the Commissioner's desk with two laptops open, typing away incessantly. The laptops hissed and whirred constantly when running diagnostic after diagnostic.

"Well…were you able to isolate the problem?" Gordon asked impatiently.

"Commissioner, this is the thirteenth diagnostic I've run on the system firewall and there is nothing wrong with the network."

"Mr. Lancaster, you're telling me Joker was able to get through that new firewall you designed without leaving a trace?"

"Yes, which means he must have bypassed it instead of breaking though."

"It was your design," Gordon said approaching Lancaster. "Is that possible?"

"Not unless he had access to the new passwords and the only person that has worked on this network was me. And before you ask…NO, I didn't do it."

"The work of a very resourceful hacker, no, Mr. Lancaster?" said a voice that seemed to come from nowhere. Through the window appeared the black silhouette of the Dark Detective who, moved slowly towards the Commissioner and Lancaster.

"R-resourceful indeed…" Meredith answered pointing at the figure. "You always enter like that?"

"Some of the time, but most other times I don't even know how he gets in." Gordon said with a small smile under his moustache then walked over to the Detective. "You are thinking that was Garibaldi again?"

"Who else? I went to Arkham last night and went to pay a visit to Joker. There was no way he could've contacted you last night."

"But if that's true…how did he get in my computer?"

"That was not Joker…"

"You didn't hear him like I did, and who else would get kick of threatening my daughter?"

"We have Garibaldi. Joker could have told him about his talk with you and your daughter."

"Sorry, but he sounded too much like the Clown," Gordon said making a short pause to adjust his glasses. "And how did Michael do it? Lancaster can't find a single lead as to how the system was hacked."

"That I don't know, but Michael had set a precedent of hacking systems. Arkham, the 911 Emergency Services, the Fire Department. He probably has worms infiltrated in the police network as well, and you found one of them."

"But wouldn't that be kind of dumb to just use the same method on the apartment complex?" Interrupted Lancaster, still working from his terminal.

"Unless, he wants us to know it was him who did it. Hackers tend to like to sign their handiwork, am I correct, Mr. Lancaster?" The Knight said crossing his arms over his chest. Meredith nodded and silently returned to work.

"What type of game is Joker playing?"

"Don't know, but I think this time, Joker is not playing alone. And I don't mean just Michael. This is very complicated and required a lot of outside help. Joker must be involved with someone with a lot of money and resources."  
"Money is not the key here." Lancaster interrupted. "I cannot find any physical evidence that the computers have been tampered with and that could only mean he was not here. It's just impossible unless he's working with a warlock."

"Could the hacking have been done somewhere else then entered from an uncommon portal like a modem or a phone line?"

"You don't understand…the only way Garibaldi could have hacked the system without activating the firewall, would be if he was part of the network already."

"You mean that the intruder lived in the system?" Batman inquired.

"Yes, like a worm, a sleeping program. But what Gordon reported was not a virus or a program because those are simple, autonomous and very limited in their interaction with the operator. They 're just not designed to engage in chats." Lancaster pulled a box filled with CDs from his suitcase. "And it's just impossible to chat with an outside source without leaving some kind of fingerprint in the system."

"Garibaldi did it. And we have to find how he did it to prevent the system from being hacked again. I don't trust these computers anymore. Maybe I should call the FBI to help. They have specialists…no offense Meredith." The technician shook his head as he went about his work at the computer station.

"Any leads on the names we have?"

"Nobody could find any Kunshu Dokeshi or any with a similar name anywhere. Mr. Kirkpatrick on the other hand is an interesting man. No previous history of anyone with that name until about a year ago then all of a sudden he is mentioned in Forbes. They have tried to reach him at his home in the French Riviera, but still no response. I'm trying to get the Interpol to interview him."

"In the French Riviera…Penguin mentioned that Dokeshi wanted some prototypes from a French lab. What about Drago Metzger?

"Metzger has a very interesting police record. Fraud and money laundering, for which he served six years in prison in Germany. He has stayed clean ever since he got out, but I'm looking closer at his…dealings."

"Mr. Kirkpatrick surrounds himself with very interesting people. Maybe it's time we talk with Mr. Metzger."


	8. Virtual Truths

_**Author's Note: **Sorry for the delay posting but this have been a few crazy weeks, drawing, painting, working, writing, and developing two Joker sites. Anyways, made time to continue this story. It was written with lots of love for you all and I hope I can keep entertaining you all as the plot thickens.._

_Please feel free to drop me a note or a review to share your thoughts on the story. We writers depend on your voice as much as our imaginations to write. Sometimes the best ideas come from fans (like this story that was one fan's idea). For now, just relax and enjoy the chapter that was written with a lot of love for you all._

_DISCLAIMER 1: BATMAN and related characters belong solely to DC COMICS_

_DISCLAIMER 2: There will be instances of MATURE LANGUAGE and SITUATIONS. Be aware before you continue reading._

_BETA: Another beautiful beta job by the talente KICHI. Thank you for your help, girl!_

**Chapter 8: Virtual Truths**

Joker lay across the bed with his feet propped up against the wall and his hands interlaced behind his head when he heard a commotion down the hall. In the middle of it all, one voice caught his attention: Hampton's. It wasn't long before Matthew appeared in front of the acrylic door, dressed up in a nicely pressed navy blue suit with a sky blue tie around his neck. The thought of tightening the federal's tie to match the suit made Joker smile.

"Mr. Joker…we never got the last questionnaire, I left it for you a week ago."Joker just glared at him, his mouth extended in an evil grin. Hampton shifted nervously and cleared his throat. "…And I apologize we have not been able to get you more paper, but passing security has been…harder than usual."

"Then you should've tried harder," the Jester said straightening on the bed. "You guys can muscle yourself into any country of the world, but can't get origami paper to a lunatic in an Asylum? Act like the bullies you are..."

Hampton frowned, obviously annoyed. "They even gave you a new cell, I see?"

"Didn't like the view from the old one", the Jester tried to smoothing his green mane with a hand. "But if you want to do me a favor…kill the landlord."

"I told you already, I'm not murdering anybody." Hampton coughed nervously. "And we had a deal…"

"You're right in that, Hammy. We HAD a deal. No origami paper, no deal." Joker rose and turned around to face the wall behind him. "Now leave me alone, you're blocking my view to the graveyard."

"You're making a terrible mistake by not cooperating, Joker. After all we've tolerated from you."

"That sounds like a threat. You know how I feel about threats."

"I'm just letting you know that your insanity is no longer an excuse for the death penalty."

Joker let out a loud chortle. "I'm not insane Hammy…I'm just an eccentric genius. Even Mr. Spock knows that." The Clown Prince offered Hampton the Vulcan salute. "Die soon and painfully."

"Unfortunate indeed…" Hampton muttered as he fixed his glasses again.

"You ARE threatening me…Oh Hammy I'm gonna have so much fun killing you…"

"I would watch out who you threaten, Mr. Clown," Hampton spat back, emphasizing his disgust on the last words, "Because you won't have either Gordon, Wayne, or the Batman presenting a case for your stay here much longer.."

"So, I owe my life to a nutcase with animal fetishes, a bratty playboy millionaire with no personality and a walking piece of bacon... Great, kill me now Hammy. Isn't that what you want?"

"No…it will not be that easy. Karma, Joker. You will get what's coming to you."

Joker glared furiously at the agent. "Yeah. Karma, Hammy."

A very large man in a security uniform reached Hampton. The officer towered over Hampton's plump body close to probably a whole foot. "Time is up, Mr. Hampton." The large officer said in a low and deep voice.

"I've always had one hour with the inmate." The government official protested indignantly while looking at his watch. "Oh, what the heck. This conversation was over a long time ago." Hampton fixed his glasses and turned around walking back to the security post. "If you need to talk to me again, Joker…your lawyer has my number."

"Yeah, and I have your bullet, asshole." Joker said while making funny faces at the departing government officer when he noticed the large security officer staring at him intently. "And what are you staring at? Got something stuck between my teeth… is that it?"

The towering officer said nothing and pulled something from the left pocket of his shirt. Joker took a good look and noticed that it was a joker playing card. Joker arched his eyebrows and his green eyes glinted maliciously and walked away from the door with a childish giggle. His giggles escalated to a frenzied laughter that forced him to hold onto the table. Joker's laughter was now hysterically out of control as he turned around and let his weight rest on his hands against the wall in his cell. The shrilling guffaws resonated along the empty hall as a supernatural essence making the hair on the back of the necks of the officers in the security post stand on end.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"So here is where you've been all day…"

Alfred sat at the computer station running tests on the sequence when Tim Drake started to go slowly up the stairs to the computer level with the aid of a cane. The butler had been sitting for hours on end in front of this computer screen running any imaginable test to the sequence in the hope that it would yield a clue as to the meaning of the long string of numbers.

"I'm sorry, Master Tim. Time really flies if I'm busy with the numbers analyzing these sequences. Do you need anything?" Alfred turned to greet Drake.

"Nothing, don't sweat it. Mind if I help a little?" Robin responded with a smile and a friendly pat on the shoulder. "Bruce doesn't let me do much."

"I don't see why not since it does not involve any exhausting physical activity." The butler said as he offered a seat beside him.

"Hmmm, let me see," Tim said leaning closer to the monitor. "So you have this long sequence, interrupted with these smaller sequences in not specific order. Do the letters in these sequences repeat, or are they the same?"

Alfred ran an analysis of the smaller sequences. "Some of them are closely related but no two are identical. How are they related?"

Alfred proceeded to explain the sequences all contained either the letters X, Y or Z, but the numbers accompanying the letters were all different. Tim looked at the sequence attentively. He knew there was a pattern there hidden between those numbers, and it was staring at him in plain sight.

"Master Bruce thinks they are coordinates in a map, but we don't we have a clue as to a map of what or where." Alfred explained. "And the third set of coordinate is highly unusual."

Tim noted the cursor sitting quietly in the right bottom corner of the screen and saw a small box on top with two sets of numbers, and the letters X and Y attached to it. It was staring at him in the eye. "That's because it's not a real space, Alfred. It's a virtual one. Look. " Drake pointed at the cursor box.

"Excuse me, Master Tim?"

"The sequence is not to be read in two dimensions," Tim explained tearing a long strip of printing paper, and making random marks along its length, "but to be folded, according to the coordinates given. That will bring sequences together that otherwise would not meet. I think the sequence draws something in the screen."

The butler noted as Tim started to fold the paper strip along the markings. An abstract glob of paper started to form. "Good heavens! The sequence is to be read in three dimensions?"

"But within the computer. Like one of those drafting programs."

"I'm letting Master Dick know about this breakthrough. I hope his hacker friends can help us with the rest of the sequence."

oooooooooooooooooooooooo

The door shook as if it was about to come out of its hinges. Michael glared at the virtual clown in the screen as if he was responsible of another of his little surprises, but this time the Clown gave him a blank look. Blip grabbed his .44 and walked gingerly towards the door. Mohan was out of town in a business trip and he was not expecting any visitors. Blip rose to answer the door when he realized that whomever was knocking, was not going to go away.

"Who's this?" Blip said looking through the peephole.

"Delivery for Mohan…"

"Mr. Mohan does not live here. Go downstairs." Michael said casually trying to hide his fright. He wanted to see who was knocking at the door, but the large, bulky man seemed to lean over something on the floor. As if he had asked for it, the man finally looked at the peephole. "Elliott?"

"Shh, man. Don't say it so loud."

Garibaldi opened the door. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in prison." Blip muttered softly.

"Boss arranged it in exchange for the delivery. Can I leave it in your apartment?" Michael just stared back flabbergasted, and Elliott went on. "The Boss said that he wanted me to deliver this to him here, because you're still working for him, right?"

"The Boss…" Garibaldi looked confused. "What are you talking…? Oh shit, wait a minute."

Michael closed the door on the thug's face and headed to the bedroom where the computer screen had the image of Joker in a purple and green Hawaiian shirt snoozing comfortably on a hammock by the ocean shore with a Panama hat over his face and drinking what seemed to be a large piña colada.

Blip tapped on the keyboard. "Hey you, wake up!"

"Stop, stop." Protested the small clown as he spilled most of his drink on himself and almost fell off the hammock. "How many times have I told you that I don't like it when you do that?"

"Did you get Elliott out of prison and tell him to deliver something here?"

"Oh, Goody! Did he bring it?" The virtual Joker joined his hands under his chin in anticipation.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Blip snapped angrily. "You know I'm not supposed to be seen with anybody of the old gang. And you should let me know these things beforehand and not surprise me, like with Neo."

"Neo was a fluke, but Elliott has always been so faithful, so respectful and he knows how to keep a low profile." The Joker said when he was distracted by a loud crashing noise coming from the living room. Joker started to laugh. "Though he doesn't know how to make a quiet entrance. Check on him, I think we're gonna need a new door."

Garibaldi snarled and left the bedroom for the living room to find the door forced open as Elliot was pulling the large bag into the apartment. Elliot stopped what he was doing and looked at Blip.

"You gonna help me or what?" The thug said as Michael walked hastily to assist the man in his task. Between the two, they carried the heavy bag and with great effort let it over the old sofa. Blip tried closing the door but now it didn't fit the frame properly. _This door will definitely need to be replaced_, Michael thought as he forced the door to close the best he could.

"That was heavy…what's in it?" Blip asked securing a nearby chair under the knob

"Bring the package over here, I wanna see…I wanna see." A voice called from the bedroom. Michael recognized the voice and shook his head. _No…what the hell is he doing?_

"He's here? You have the Boss here?"

"No, w-well, s-sort of. Its a little complicated t-to explain," he said, hitting the bag's side. The bag moaned softly.

"Elliott, is this a person?" Garibaldi poked the bag and it moaned again. He was starting to dislike this.

"I'm waiting, big guy…" The Jester prompted from the bedroom in a playful almost musical tone.

"Hm. Elliott. Seeing him is not a good idea right now." Garibaldi said trying to stop Elliot's advance to the bedroom, with the 'package' over his shoulder. "He's kind of tired."

Too late. The large henchman entered the room only to see the bundle of cables all over the place and the largest CPU in the world sitting in the right hand corner of the room, with a large LCD screen sitting on a desk. In the monitor screen, the picture of Joker seemed to look at him.

"Where is he, Blip? I just heard him."

"I'm right here." The small Joker in the screen purred and Elliott turned to look at the tiny monitor. "How you doing, big guy?" Garibaldi ran a hand along his face. This was getting out of hand.

"Boss…you're on TV."

"I told you I'll make it to prime time one day," The tiny Jester said while he busted in laughter. "But asylum network is more like it. Now, just put him on the chair and let me have a look at the merchandise."

The thug did as he was asked and gently dumped the bag on the chair poking a finger through one of the small holes on the top. He ripped the bag to reveal a thin man with a long aquiline nose. The man, probably not older than thirty-five, seemed to be in a comatose state and barely breathing. Elliott grabbed the man's head and turned it towards the monitor where the Joker tried to look from a better angle. The Jester extended to open palms in front of him and using the thumbs as a frame, then smiled.

"Well?" Elliott spat impatiently.

"It's gonna need some effort, but I think it's gonna work." Joker smiled wildly.

"What about the payment, Boss?"

"You still have that old account?

"No. They closed it when they arrested me. Can't you just give me the money in cash?" Elliot asked scratching his head. "I don't want to have to deal with the police again."

"I usually don't carry that much cash and withdrawing such an amount is gonna make some heads turn."

"I was planning on skipping town after the payment, Boss." Elliot said gloomily.

"But…but… I'm back, Elliott. I need trusty, brawny men like you at my side. You know you're my number one thug." Joker said coyly looking at the large man.

"Boss, I'm grateful you helped me out of the hole, especially after what happened with your underground hideout and all that, but the last time was a fiasco. I don't wanna go through that again."

"That's what I'm saying. Everything is in the past...this is nothing like the last time. Not boring me. I'm back to my old self." The virtual Jester put a pensive hand under his chin. He seemed to be in deep thought. "Tell you what…I'll double your pay if you stay. Just to cover for the extra risks."

"You what--!" Blip protested when a lifted hand from the Jester silenced him. Michael could feel the sweat building in his forehead. "It's not --."

"Give me a second, Blip," Joker warned, and then smiled back at Elliot. "People like you in my organization, makes life so much easier, big guy. And a lot more fun. So what is it gonna be?"

"Excuse me…can I say something?" Blip tried to say when the Jester lifted a menacing hand to the hacker.

"NOT NOW!" Joker snapped back and glanced back at Elliot. "You were saying, big guy?"

"I just don't want the government gittin' my money." Elliott responded after pondering the offer.

"We can fix that. Do you accept the terms, including the bonus?"

"Wow, Boss. You're very generous."

"I know. What can I say? You really have grown on me, Elliot." The Jester said sheepishly. Elliott nodded. "Well that is excellent news, but now you need to leave. Don't want anybody making associations and I need to leave this network soon. Nobody should know we are working together again. Clear?"

"Sure, Boss."

"I will call you when I need you again. As of now…behave like this delivery has never taken place. Capice?"

"Yessir." Elliott saluted to the screen monitor and started to walk towards the living room. "See ya Blip and…uhm…sorry for the door."

"No p-problem…" Garibaldi said faking the lack of concern while following the thug closely. He tried to force a sincere smile but just managed to laugh nervously. He really just wanted the thug out of his apartment before Mohan showed his dark chubby self through the unhinged door. That was going to be really hard to explain. "By the way. Don't tell anyone that you've spoken with me either. It's going to be a surprise for everybody…when we decide to go public."

"Not a problem, nerd. I'm a tomb."

Garibaldi opened the door and let the thug out. A tomb. That is where he wanted to hide now. Somewhere where he can get away from the police, the Bat, the old gang and this crazy program that every time sounded and behaved like the original psychopath after which he was modeled. Michael was starting to feel sick to his stomach.

He looked around to make sure nobody had been spying on him; it never hurt to be too careful. It was a lucky streak that Mohan was gone. Not many details escaped that Hindu. He closed the door that now fit the frame awkwardly, forcing him to push with all his might to be able to lock it. He replaced the chair under the knob and hurried to the bedroom, where the young man wrapped in a plastic bag was still unconscious.

"What's wrong with you?" Blip rammed at the Joker in the screen. "Why didn't you tell me that you had spoken to Elliott?"

"Sorry, but you would not have understood what I wanted to do." Joker shrugged.

"Understand what? That you have lost a chip in there and have started to kidnap people like you are the Joker or something? You're even making promises with money that doesn't belong to you. Do you really believe you can get away with this?"

"Watch that tone with me, kid. Do you always talk back to the real Clown?"

"No, you beware. You're not Joker and you were not programmed to do this. And I don't kidnap people."

"We didn't kidnap anybody, Blip. Elliott did." The virtual Jester answered as innocently as he could.

"And he brought that problem here to my apartment. That's not the point. Do you realize you are risking having me arrested? And if it happens…guess who gets disconnected from the wall?" Blip rubbed his forehead nervously. "God, if Mohan finds out, I'm one dead hacker."

"Calm down, kid. This is part of the plan to get your Clown Boss out of Arkham."

"Oh, come on," Garibaldi spat furiously. Blip noted the clown glaring angrily at him. Even through the monitor, he looked menacing. "In what part of your insane plan can this…guy fit? I'm dying to hear that one."

The virtual Jester sighed. "Trust me, Blip. I was programmed to take the Boss out of Arkham and that is exactly what we are gonna do. Now if you stop whining and get me what I asked you to get me…we can start having some fun. Oh, and please call Dr. Menster. We are gonna need his expertise on this."

"Menster? The guy lost his license over five years ago…"

"And now treats the underworld, I know. He helped me…e-hem…Joker when he had been injured and he doesn't have any complaints, does he? Besides we just need someone who has some medical background and Menster fills the minimal requirements, that's all."

He grabbed the box with all the materials the virtual Joker had told him to get and brought it by the computer monitor. Many of them where chemicals of common use but there were other products he couldn't really see as having a scientific application, like the sneezing powder. The virtual clown started to spit instructions and measurements of chemicals and the computer room slowly started turning into a makeshift chemical laboratory.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Metzger arranged his tie to the rhythm of Tchaikovsky's overture of 1812 when he was surprised by a rustle at the exit to the balcony in his hotel room. He turned and walked over to see the reason of the noise when he noticed a black figure standing quietly at the edge of the balcony rail. At the beginning, it was a surprise, and he thought of pulling his gun and shooting down the beast when he realized the pointy ears and long cloak in the darkness. This prey was out of bounds. Metzger's muscles that till now were tense, unwound as he walked quietly back to the bedroom leaving the door open for the Knight to get in.

"Oh…I thought you vere a legend. You know, like Mighty Mouse," Metzger said returning to the large mirror in the bedroom to adjust his suit. "Obviously I vas mistaken."

"Most people get concerned by my presence," the Knight responded dryly following Metzger into the bedroom.

"No offense, but I deal vith execs that are ten times creepier and more intimidating than you. I don't scare easily, Mr. Batman." Drago looked at his watch. "I'm about to leave for a meeting, how can I help you?"

"Two local Mafiosi invested a lot of cash in stocks for your company."

"If you're referring to Garrison and Clancy, vee sent a statement to your local police explaining that vee didn't know they had cases pending in your jurisdiction. Vee dealt vith them indirectly, and they seemed honorable enough to do business vith. End of story."

"How did they contact your company?"

"Mr. Kirkpatrick recommended them to our exec board." Metzger walked over to turn off the CD player. "He said he had dealt with them before."

"And you didn't check their background?"

"Vee trusted Mr. Kirkpatrick's recommendation, like vee always do with the company president's recommendations. There vas no reason to suspect any illegal business. Now vee realize it vas a mistake and for that, vee apologize."

"Did you tell Mr. Kirkpatrick about the mistake?"

"Yes, of course. Vhy?"

"We have been trying to reach him to ask him a few questions regarding the case. He seems to knowingly ignore the police inquiries."

"Mr. Kirkpatrick is not too fond of exposing himself to the media. And vhen Garrison and Clancy's illegal doings vhere exposed, vee backed off and made a statement to the police. Isn't that enough for you Americans?" "Why can't we hear the statement from Mr. Kirkpatrick's mouth? What is he hiding?"

"You're a very obnoxious individual, Mr. Batman, not to mention stubborn." Drago retorted in an uncomfortably acidic tone as he sat at his laptop. "But if that's vhat it's gonna take to get you out of here so I can attend my conference, so be it."

Metzger connected the computer to the net and made a phone call to a European phone number. A large window opened and a young man in his mid-thirties with jet-black hair and a goatee appeared on the screen. He adjusted his dark square rimmed glasses over his nose as he stared at the monitor.

"What do you need, Metzger? I hope it's worth calling me because I have very important evening appointments." Two females peeked into the camera shyly from beside the man then disappeared from view giggling playfully.

"Mr. Kirkpatrick, I have the Batman here vith me and he vould like to ask you a few questions personally."

"The who?" Kirkpatrick squinted into the net cam.

"The Batman, the vigilante vith the rodent costume." Metzger set his hands atop his head mimicking the bat ears of the Batman's costume. "He's real and investigating our dealings vith Garrison and Clancy."

"I already made a statement to the local police regarding those two. What does he want now?"

"There are still a few lose ends I would like to tie together." Batman said advancing until he was in full view of the computer camera.

"Whatever." Kirkpatrick responded disdainfully. "I'm not going to say anything different than what I said in my statement so you can save your spit. Gee…you look creepy in that costume." The women laughed loudly on the background.

"I found your statement rather incomplete. How did you meet Garrison and Clancy?"

"Business trip a year ago. They wanted to invest in technology and had the cash to back up their interest."

"And you never asked where they got their cash?"

"They were able to produce enough proof that the money was legal. Sorry, but I didn't ask them to go get a polygraph test or to get me their financial books. I don't work like that."

Batman slowly started to count back from ten, trying to remain calm at Kirkpatrick's rudeness. "Your statement also missed mentioning Mr. Kunshu Dokeshi who seems to be a long time acquaintance of yours."

"He's not involved in this case. Do I need now to talk about my entire family and acquaintances to fulfill your perverted curiosity? Mind your own business." Kirkpatrick snapped bitterly. The ladies cooed in the background.

Batman took a deep breath.

"It becomes my business when people start dying in my city and your associate's name comes up in a conversation to become one of my prime suspects, Mr. Kirkpatrick. Is Mr. Dokeshi a member of the Yakuza?"

"What? That's nonsense." Kirkpatrick adjusted his glasses and massaged his goatee. "And I have no idea why Dokeshi's name would come up."

"Is there a way I could reach Mr. Dokeshi and speak with him personally? He needs to answer to some questions as well."

"I will have to speak with Kunshu. That's not for me to tell."

"What role does Mr. Dokeshi play in your company, Mr. Kirkpatrick?"

"He's a client, and an old friend. I'm sure you understand there is a privacy issue here. I can't just release this information without consulting him first." A pair of feminine hands started to unbutton Kirkpatrick's shirt, and he quickly pushed them away.

"I understand. The police have been trying to get a hold of you, Mr. Kirkpatrick. Your refusal to respond to their questions is hardly a sign of your willingness to cooperate. I hope you decide to change that attitude."

"Whatever. Look, Batman, I'm a really busy man and I have engagements I need to fulfill, so I need to go. If you or your police need anything, you can contact my lawyer or Metzger. They're more than capable to handle all your requests. Good night."

"Mr. Kirkpatrick--." Batman started to say when the window closed and the screen went black.

"Congratulations. He spoke vith you for a whole ten minutes." Drago said as he applauded mockingly.

"Is he always like that?" Batman asked.

"Since I've known him. And only one pair of girls for the night?"

"Do you know anything about Mr. Dokeshi?"

"Only that Francis has known him for years. Nothing else. As you can see, Mr. Kirkpatrick is not too fond of sharing his personal information."

"I hope that will change, and regarding you, Mr. Metzger. I'm sure the police would like to have a word with you before you leave. It will help the case if you were a little more forthcoming than your boss."

"Sure, everything to clear up this mess. Here, you can have one of my cards. You might need it later." Drago said pulling a business card from his wallet as he arranged the knot in his tie and straightened his suit. Batman walked over the balcony, opened the door and disappeared into the darkness as Metzger calmly adjusted his NippoX pin in his lapel "This city is crazy…a rodent superhero."

Metzger left the apartment and headed down the hall. He boarded the elevator towards the ground level, when his cell phone rang. "Drago here…yes, sir. Hope you heard everything. Good. I'll take care of that personally. Oh, I'm sure he did, but I'm ready to play with him. Don't you vorry. This is going to be a riot." Metzger got out of the elevator and headed to the main exhibition hall humming the 1812 overture.

* * *

_For the Joker fans out there and specially for the Joker fan-fic writers, I have stablished the Jokerlady Never Ending Joker Project. A LiveJournal community dedicated to Joker. Here writers can collaborate in a Joker inspired story made up by a prompt to which authors will contribute to the plot, one chapter at the time, each chapter uploaded by a different author. At the end, we all had fun and the result is a nice coherent story written by a several authors to entertain the community. The site will also include articles to help with the dreaded Writer's Block. Everything to make our muses healthy, right? If the idea sounds something you might be interested on, please feel free to join me at ne_jkr_project in LJ. I'm also working on another Joker site, will update on that one when it is up and running._

_Thanks to you all for your support!_


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